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Giselle: Remix

 
Isabella Thompson Review by Isabella Thompson 4 Published: 8 Aug 2025 Pleasance Courtyard Show Dates: 30 Jul 2025-24 Aug 2025

Created by Jack Sears and Hannah Grennell, with choreography by Grennell in collaboration with the dance troupe cast, Giselle: Remix rips up the ballet rulebook and presents a brilliant genre-defying, queer reimagining of a classic. Ballet collides with lip-sync cabaret and queer performance art to chart a young person’s headlong plunge from love to betrayal, from heartbreak to rebirth. The result is beautiful.

A brilliant genre-defying, queer reimagining of a classic

Giselle’s wedding-day bliss is all blush-pink satin and adoration from their entourage, a fairytale frosted with camp, an ode to the founding tale. Much like the original, their world comes crashing down when they discover their lover being unfaithful; betrayal hits like a sledgehammer. The tulle evaporates and dancers emerge in black and latex, evoking something akin to the Berghain dancefloor. Choreography shifts from soft, lyrical intimacy to pelvic-thrusting and writhing, and all inhibitions are thrown off. Baselines throb through the floorboards, and the heartbreak becomes a purge.

The detail work here is delicious: pulsing sequences evoking the underground ballroom scene; a punk-horror metamorphosis with Giselle returning as a latex Mother Mary in an eyeless gimp mask; a chorus that moves with precision and a beautiful, reckless abandon. Beneath the spectacle, the show takes aim at toxic beauty standards and the self-destructive edges of queer nightlife while also celebrating the joy and liberation those spaces can bring. Some sections overstay their welcome and laments eventually lose their sting, but the emotional intelligence and theatrical daring are undeniable.

Giselle: Remix is painterly, messy, sexy, angry and utterly unapologetic. Sears reminds us that sexuality is more than just sex; it is a living inheritance, shaped by generations of queer history. They highlight the importance of gay role models in two beautiful moments that bookend the show, featuring queer icons such as Jonny Woo that call for connection, acceptance and healing. By the final moments, the message is clear: to come as one, but stand as ten thousand.

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The Blurb:

Love. Loss. Revenge. Redemption. A radical queer reimagining of the classical ballet. Our Giselle is a hopeless romantic who comes to realise the brutal reality of queer intimacy is a far cry from Hollywood’s happily-ever-after. A hypnotic dance-theatre show that weaves ballet, the avant-garde and a lip-sync cabaret with an epic original soundscape ranging from Judy Garland to SOPHIE. It’s Giselle like you’ve never seen it before – Matthew Bourne meets Leigh Bowery. Created by Jack Sears, choreography from The Royal Ballet’s Hannah Grennell and featuring a world-class ensemble. OFFIE 2025 winner. 'Wild and dramatic' **** (Stage).