Peter Darrell Trust

✨ Opening Night. ✨ Tonight, the curtain rises at the Pentland Theatre on the 2026 season of Images Ballet Company. This year’s programme brings together heritage, innovation, and two bold new voices in one evening of dance. 🦢 Swan Lake Act 2 — the haunting 1977 staging by Peter Darrell reconstructed from original notation in an act of preservation @mayumiroseserenity ⚡ Stay — a powerful world premiere by @danie1davidson , exploring strength, vulnerability, and transformation through a raw contemporary movement language. 🎖️ Victory Parade — a vibrant world premiere by @jamie.carter.choreography celebrating individuality, spirit, and the energy of a company moving forward together. So proud of these emerging artists and everything they have poured into this process. Months of rehearsals, growth, resilience, and collaboration lead to this moment. The lights go up tonight. ✨• • 📸 @romifolder #ImagesBalletCompany #OpeningNight #SwanLake #WorldPremiere #Ballet

Enjoy Peter Darrell's Swan Lake Act 11 and an evening of exciting new works from Images Ballet Company.   The evening of dance under Artistic Director Jamie Carter features rising stars of the company in Swan Lake Act 11 as well as a new ballet by Daniel Davidson (formerly of Scottish Ballet and Rambert) and Jamie Carter's Victory Parade. Dates:                7 May, Pentland Theatre, Arts Depot, London 11 May, Rhoda McGaw Theatre, Woking 18 May, Stag Theatre, Sevenoaks 22 May, Key Theatre, Peterborough 1-2 June Lilian Baylis Theatre, Sadler's Wells, London   Photo: Amber Hunt at Photographybyash

It's almost time! Ballet Nights: Convergence at London’s Cadogan Hall on Wednesday 29 April Join us to see the truly moving pas de deux from Peter’s Chéri, as part of the Ballet Nights programme, with Birmingham Royal Ballet’s dancers Samara Downs (Léa) and Ixan Llorca Ferrer (Chéri) Photo taken during recent rehearsals at BRB’s Headquarters by Lachlan Monaghan, courtesy of BRB.   Get your tickets for what is likely to be a sell-out show for one night only at /011

We are very happy to share a very special video of David Earl, the composer of Peter Darrell's ballet Chéri. Enjoy.

🎤 Legacy only lasts if it’s danced. Celebrate great British legacy work from @peterdarrelltrust - danced by @bhamroyalballet dancers @samaradowns & @ixan_ferrer in Peter Darrell CBE’s masterpiece “Chéri” 🎟️ 29th April @balletnights @cadoganhall (link in bio)

Please join us to witness a rare revival of the truly moving pas de deux from Peter’s Chéri as part of the programme of Ballet Nights: Convergence at London’s Cadogan Hall on Wednesday 29 April.   We are excited to reveal here for you some images of Birmingham Royal Ballet’s dancers Samara Downs (Léa) and Ixan Llorca Ferrer (Chéri) during recent rehearsals at BRB’s Headquarters. Both these exquisite dancers are seen here in rehearsal with former Scottish Ballet Principal Dancer, Paul Tyers. Peter Darrell created the role of Chéri for Paul in 1980.    Get your tickets for what is likely to be a sell-out show for one night only at /011   Photographs: Lachlan Monaghan, courtesy of BRB

On Tuesday 3rd March we celabrate 50 years since Peter Darrell's ballet: 'Mary Queen of Scots' First performance: 3rd March 1976, The Scottish Ballet, Theatre Royal, Glasgow Composer: John McCabe (commissioned score) Scenario: Noël Goodwin Designer: Peter Docherty Lighting: John B. Read Casting: Elaine McDonald or Patricia Rianne, Robin Haig or Patricia Merrin with Andrea Durant, Richard Holland, Kit Lethby, Paul Tyers; Gordon Aitken, Anne Allan, James Cowie, Gavin Dorrian, Louise Hellewell, Chua Kah Joo, Simon Laing, Ruth Prior, Yuji Sato, Kenneth Saunders, Nigel Spencer, Dianne Storer and dancers of The Scottish Ballet   A memory from Kit Lethby:   "Mary Queen of Scots brings back so many fond memories. It seems like only yesterday, yet it was 50 years ago. The ballet was dramatically intense with so many passions that to portray them all could have been one of its downfalls. There are many angles that the ballet could have taken. Peter chose the romantic point of view - possibly to keep the audiences happy - but also to show the many complex issues that surrounded Mary Queen of Scots. The score was bold, exciting and dramatically intense, it conjured up superb images of the turmoil and strife that beset the English and Scottish courts in the 16th century and Peter did it justice impeccably. The role of Rizzio was challenging and exciting. I was left to my own devices and intuition. Peter was always very trusting in his dancers and very rarely tried to impress on them a particular point of view. Peter was never fully recognised or appreciated for his boldness and guts to step out of a conservative establishment to establish an exciting new and ground-breaking company. That he fought for such a long period of time to establish his company and his beliefs can only be put down to his incredible resilience, his belief and care for his art, commitment to his company, love of his dancers and above all his integrity".   Scottish Ballet have a new version of Mary Queen of Scots with choreography by Sophie Laplan and co-creator James Bonas which is at Sadler's Wells Theatre from 5-8th March: /whats-on/scottish-ballet-mary-queen-of-scots/

For Valentines Day we are looking at Peter Darrell’s ballet ‘Lessons in Love’. First performed on 26th February 1966, at the Zurich State Opera House, Zurich Composer: Aaron Copland Designer: Max Rothlisberger Cast: Colette Cerf, Verena Fluhrer, Berns Ganter, Sybille Kaess, Ryta Keller, Susan Kiefer, Barry McGrath, Alun Rhys, Ben de Rochemont, Stefan Schuller, Carlos Serrano, Mirja Tervamaa and dancers of Zurich Ballet Below is a review from the opening night by Eleanor Gurewitsch - special thanks to New York Times ZURICH, Feb 28 - A new one-act ballet by Peter Darrell, with music by Aaron Copland, had its first performance at the Opera here last night. Mr Darrell is the London choreographer who is bringing fresh ideas to the sometimes musty world of serious ballet with such items as ‘Mods and Rockers’, danced to recorded music by the Beatles. ‘Lessons in Love’ is as contemporary as today’s fashion. The young dancers wore chic clothes that were a happy combination of Mondrian, Courrèges and op art - slim, bright and amusing. Their motions were more beat than ballet and showed what the dance halls would look like today if only the beat experts had a good ballet background. The silent story line concerns some young people in a modern classroom. A semi-circle of benches on a raised balcony constitutes the entire set. In succession three groups enact their lessons. In the first the girl is out to get the bespectacled intellectual boy. Lesson two depicts a lyric, jazz-styled romance and the third is a scene in which four girls chase the same astonished and delighted young man. In Zurich where his spritely ballet is sandwiched between new but conventional productions of Don Quixote with music by Ludwig Minkus and a Nestroy comedy with music by Johann Strauss, it is easy to see what Mr Darrell is aiming at. Young people are bored stiff of fairy tales and merely ‘pretty dancing’ he commented after a ‘Lessons in Love’ rehearsal, “They want to know about real problems, complex human relationships. That’s what I try to do in my ballets: put people in a situation they don’t especially like and then watch them work their way out of it in dance form”

The Peter Darrell Trust would like to wishing everyone a very happy Festive Season. Sally Collard-Gentle in the Arabian dance from act 2 of the Nutcracker. Photo: Alan Crumlish

To comemorate what is 38 years since Peter Darrell died we have two photos. It was the first time Cork Ballet had engaged guest artists from abroad for the Cork Festival in Ireland. The main photo is of Peter Darrell arriving in Cork, being met by Joan Denise Moriarty, Founder and Artistic Director of the Cork Ballet Company (1947-93) and Leslie Horne, the Company Manager.  And the insert is after the first performance of Swan Lake Act II on 7 May 1956. It is with Aloys Fleischmann, Conductor of the Cork Symphony Orchestra, Domini Callaghan as Odette and Peter Darrell  as Prince Siegfried. Peter produced Act II for the company as well as taking on the role Siegfried.

This month we are celabrating 50 years since the first performance of Scarlet Pastorale. Here is the costume designed for Margot Fonteyn by Philip Prowse and taken from the book Man of Tomorrow which was published by The Peter Darrell Trust in 1998.  Roy Campbell-Moore, who was in the original cast, said - "Being in the production was one of the highlights of my years with Scottish Ballet. I was infatuated with Margot and she was such a lovely person to work with - as was Peter during that time. Margot brought out the best in all of us - as did Peter".

This month we are celabrating 50 years since the first performance of Scarlet Pastorale. First performed: 21st October 1975, by The Scottish Ballet at The King’s Theatre in Edinburgh. Based on an idea from Aubrey Beardsley’s Yellow Book, Darrell wrote a remarkable study in decadence. Originally created for Margot Fonteyn in an unusual double role showing her image of purity as a facade for a wicked nature beneath. Composer: Frank Martin (Concerto for Seven Wind Instruments) Designer: Philip Prowse Guest artists: Margot Fonteyn, Augustus van Heerden Casting: Anne Allan, Linda Anning, Roy Campbell-Moore, James Cowie, Gavin Dorrian, Vincent Hantam, Richard Holland, Henry Man, Christopher Mercer, Eleanor Moore, Ruth Prior, Patricia Rianne, Yuji Sato, Dianne Storer, Paul Tyers. The designs above are by Philip Prowse and taken from the Man of Tomorrow book, which was published by The Peter Darrell Trust in 1998.