A Tale of Two Cities

Times,  September 2008
Marston is a good bet when it comes to the current crop of young, talented, British-born dance-makers…Weaving together expressive gestural motifs with occasional flashes of wit, pointe work and barefoot dance, duets and ensemble scenes, the wealth of movement she gives NBT betokens solid craft and invention.

Guardian, September 2008
A Tale of Two Cities to a two-act ballet, it has pushed her to some of the most confidently inventive choreography of her career…the dancers, with whom Marston has established a superb chemistry, radiate conviction…as a company showcase it is outstanding.

The Stage, September 2008
Marston’s biggest project to date and it is quite an achievement. Each scene is vividly shaped and coloured, and there is no sign of melodrama…Marston makes a thrilling piece of theatre.

Ballet.co.uk (Ian Palmer) September 2008
A Tale of Two Cities plays to Marston’s gifts as a storyteller…Each of the characters is drawn with Dickensian spirit and they have inspired Marston to some of her sublimest choreography, her trademark fusion of high classical and contemporary styles…Her works are often complex webs that slowly un-tangle to reveal an ultimate truth….The evening was a triumph.

Observer, September 2008
Marston's choreography is wonderful…across the board there is much evidence of the care Marston has put into the creation of the ballet's many characters.

Sunday Express, September 2008
Choreographer Cathy Marston’s strong and expressive dance language in this adaptation of one of Charles Dickens most popular novels, switches easily from savage to tender and back again with its happy mix of classical and contemporary steps, always easy on the eye.

Metro, September 2008
With guest choreographer Cathy Marston taking NBT's excellent dancers beyond their comfort zone, the drama in A Tale Of Two Cities comes from the dance itself, making this a triumph of a production. Marston fuses ballet with contemporary dance styles and her moves are imaginative, technically rigorous and filled with tension. The dance shifts between being witty, fierce and, at times, truly lovely.

Leeds City Lite, September 2008
Great characteristaion by acclaimed choreographer Cathy Marston…Shifting medium can be disastrous but there's no question this transferral is a triumph.

Yorkshire Evening Post, September 2008
This ballet is a revelation. Attention to detail is fantastic…the scene with the desks is a huge crowd pleaser that could become a Northern Ballet Theatre classic. A distinctive, ambitious and rewarding ballet.

The Guardian, September 2008
The staging, too, is ingenious. In collaboration with Jon Bausor, whose split-level stage allows instant changes of location, and David Maric, whose score artfully soundpaints the action, Marston finds some clever choreographic routes through Dickens' tortuous chronology.

Times,  September 2008
Marston and her co-scenarist Edward Kemp have done a creditable job streamlining a story that slips between London and Paris, past and present. Jon Bausor’s bold, flexible, attractive designs – including a front curtain that is a giant guillotine blade – are a distinct asset, while Dave Maric’s fine original score provides the show with a sometimes suspenseful, unexpectedly delicate pulse.

The Telegraph 2007
Marston skilfully handles a complex counterpoint between all the elements at play - two dancers, two singers, Stuart MacRae's imposing score and an impressive set by Jon Bausor with a huge suspended circular mirror and live video projections… Finally, here is a choreographer with an ambitious vision and the talent to back it up. (Echo and Narcissus, 2007)

The Times 2007
The liquid, sensually entwining shapes Marston creates are enhanced by wonderful, climactic live video imagery cast upon a giant shaving mirror tilted above the stage. The piece isn’t perfect, but most of its aspects have been impressively integrated…a powerful, satisfying experience. (Echo and Narcissus 2007)

Northern Press 2005
Cathy’s latest piece of magic was set in the dunes  by Bamburgh Castle…intertwining bodies were liberating and spell-binding, replicating the ever changing forces of nature. (‘Shore’ May 2005)

Guardian 2005
Despite George Balanchine’s assertion that ‘ballet is woman’ , female choreographers are few and far between. Cathy Marston is the UK’s brightest.

Sunday Express 2005
Associate Artist Cathy Marston produced a juicy little masterpiece last week. Quality is her byword… you could only smile at the perfection of it all. Marston is up there with Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley in the top quality, thoroughly enjoyable misery stakes. Will Ghosts go down well in Liverpool or Glasgow on a Saturday night? It’s worth a try. (Ghosts – ROH2)

Independent on Sunday 2005
Marston answers Ibsen's tense, retrograde structure with a perfectly logical time-scheme of her own… Her key ploy is to show cause and effect simultaneously, bringing past and present together…the clammy claustrophobia of this story can be intolerable. Knowing this, Marston brightens a few corners, inserting a gorgeous bread-making scene for the two maid playfully poking their elbows in great lumps of dough (a substance whose sexual suggestiveness is useful)…ravishing duets for the younger maid and Matthew Hart's seal-pup of an Oswald…Dave Maric's score jab(s) through the sticky atmosphere like a knife…video by Peter Anderson compounds the sense of endless Nordic gloom… to everyone's credit the ballet's 70 minutes feel short. (Ghosts – ROH2)

Telegraph 2005
There is perfect logic to reframe (Ghosts) in dance…her re-structuring is deft…her choreography is wonderfully illustrative of character… she has let the drama bleed through the dance.

Northern Press 2005
Cathy’s latest piece of magic was set in the dunes by Bamburgh Castle…intertwining bodies were liberating and spell-binding, replicating the ever changing forces of nature.

Venetian Requiem – 2004 Royal Ballet

"Marston’s subtle and sophisticated dance language to a commissioned score by Judith Bingham for saxophone and countertenor, wove a web of watery grief. Choreographing the elements is a gift from God. Diaghilev would be mad about it."
The Sunday Express

'Venetian Requiem is by far the most successful creation... Marston takes two facts about Diaghilev’s life — his death in Venice and his fear of drowning — and produces a resonant duet that overwhelms Edward Watson in the watery imagery of Lauren Cuthbertson’s lingering, intimate dancing.' The Times

The best is Cathy Marston's Venetian Requeim, a setting of Judith Bingham's duo for saxophone and counter tenor. Inspired by Bingham's liquid, uneasy sound Marston floats a series of wistful and unsettling encounters between Edward Watson and Lauren Cuthbertson, whose eerie embrace signifies some kind of watery nemesis. The Guardian

Dichterliebe – 2004 The Ensemble Group
Cathy Marston’s exquisite Dichterliebe,, set to Schumann’s song cycle of the same name, had a light, almost pastoral feel. Following the various stages of a poet’s life, as he and his partner move through the ups and downs of romance, the work had real depth of feeling. The Scotsman

Before the Tempest…After the Storm 2004 ROH2

Marston rises to the challenges… (she) has come up with a little poetic gem… Rich in pain and tenderness, expressed in imaginative shapes and movements. Dance Europe

Triple bill 2003 ROH2

What bliss it is to see new choreography that not only fulfils your expectations but surpasses them… not only does she use fine technicians but she has an instinct for and an understanding of the craft and – the cherry on the top – she has ideas. Dance Europe

Sophie 2002 ROH2

…as close to glimpsing someone’s soul as movement can get… The Times

…absorbing, total theatre…It conveys with great delicacy and immediacy the novel’s sadness and the notion of Sophe’s past invading the present. The Independent

Stateless 2002 ROH2/ Royal Ballet

…The choreography rushes and rolls…spectacular lifts, with splayed limbs, are frozen moments of frenzy….The Independent

Unstrung Tention 2002 ROH2

…ambitious in scale, it proved she has fine-tuned her skills to mature perfection…The movement shapes had the rare virtue of interesting the mind and eye. The Independent

Marston’s Unstrung Tention …a visually rich dance which stood out for it’s flawless symmetries. The Spectator.

Facing Viv 2002 English National Ballet

Marston is a fast rising star of British choreography. (Her) choreography is characterised by the deployment of the whole body to express an idea; she uses the neck, abdominals and back the way most choreographers use arms and legs. Marston’s debut for English National Ballet is an emotional holocaust which deserves a larger stage and wider audience. Dance International

There are some spectacular moments..the surprising thing, in fact, is that so serious unusual, and one might have thought, difficult a ballet as Facing Viv was so much enjoyed by an audience who can hardly have known what to expect. The Independent

Traces 2001 Royal Opera House

…Marston’s Traces was pure heaven from start to finish. Each moment of unrequited love, confusion, friendship, subtle humour and tension, exquisitely evolved in a superb display of fluid, dynamic choreography. Dance Europe.

… complex and always rewarding, left me wanting to see it again quickly. The Independent.

Remember Miss Marston’s name…Traces is an absolute stunner, which I would happily see again on the ROH stage, or any other. Country Life

Amaterasu 2001 City Ballet of London/Japan Week

Marston got her chance to cut loose: a spectacular sequence for a dozen men flying across the stage like firebrand that had finally been allowed to self-ignite. The Times.

Tidelines 1999 Royal Ballet Company

…a meditative piece that wears its intellectual genius with pride…Marston produces a staggeringly beautiful and sensually pungent pas de deux that gives the ballet an unforgettable punch line. The Times.

Words Apart 1998 Royal Ballet Company

…a multi-layered creation of enormous power, fast moving and expansive. Forsythe’s In The Middle Somewhat Elevated must be one of only a handful of repertory works powerful enough to follow such an impressive premiere. Dance Europe

…contrast of form and dynamic movement and stillness, spark off blazing, original images. the actual movement is very much Marston’s own, merging fluidity with off-kilter shapes that push the furthest boundaries. The Sunday Times.

[Photo Peter Teigen]