Birmingham Royal Ballet - The Sleeping Beauty

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Wed 21 Feb 2024 - Sat 02 Mar 2024

You could say Birmingham Royal Ballet principal Lachlan Monaghan knows a thing or two about princes. He has recently danced in The Nutcracker Prince, last spring he was Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake and this February he completes the trio of Tchaikovsky classics by dancing Prince Florimund in Sir Peter Wight’s The Sleeping Beauty which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.

And Florimund in the production of The Sleeping Beauty, which comes to Birmingham Hippodrome on February 21- March 2, is arguably the most challenging.



Lachlan says: “I first danced the role a few years ago and the Prince in The Sleeping Beauty scares me in a way the other princes in Swan Lake and The Nutcracker don’t. There’s a purity about this production. It is like a full service and MOT for your technique. For a ballet like The Sleeping Beauty the entire company have to be on top form. But the Prince is about more than just technique, it’s about creating that character and telling the story. For me it always has to be a character, I get a huge kick out of playing somebody else.”

And the Tchaikovsky spectacle is hugely popular with audiences. “The Sleeping Beauty is the ballet of ballets, it’s an evening of amazing classical dance which audiences love, it’s a story they know, the music is so beautiful and as a production it’s so grand. It takes us away from the world we live in.”

For Lachlan, who was promoted to principal last spring, it will also be a challenge because he will only be playing the Prince. “It's actually a difficult role to perform, when you reach the pas de deux in Act Three it’s a really condensed section of dancing.”



In order to ensure top quality dancing and no injuries, Lachlan spends most of the evening preparing to go on stage with a mix of stretching, barre work and fitness. “We’re very lucky at BRB to have access to the studios where we can warm up but on tour your only time to do a barre or a warmup is in the corridor somewhere which can be tough,” he says. “It’s all about getting warm and staying warm, and in the middle of winter it can be hard to stay warm in a theatre. As I’ve learnt more about my body and my preparations, I probably do a bit of physical work, like gym work, planks and squats, more to be active rather than balletic.”

Australian-born Lachlan joined BRB in 2012 gradually rising through the ranks. Last February BRB director Carlos Acosta announced Lachlan’s promotion on stage at the Hippodrome after a performance of Swan Lake – a highlight of Lachlan’s career so far. “It was the biggest surprise of my life and it meant everything to me,” Lachlan says. “When Carlos presented it on stage he didn’t just comment on my dancing. I’ve always been taught to say yes to everything and give everything a go and Carlos took that into consideration when I became principal.”

Lachlan has certainly lived up to his adage of giving everything a go at BRB. He has contributed to the company’s LEAP (Learning, Engagement, Access and Participation) programme by taking dance into schools and the community, he has choreographed new work, taken photographs for the company and most recently he sang a solo in the new and acclaimed BRB ballet Black Sabbath – The Ballet, brainchild of the company’s world-renowned director Carlos Acosta. “Music has always been a huge part of my life,” Lachlan says. “My escape is to play the piano at home and sing through the songs I love. I started to get some singing lessons and over the last three or four years I’ve really committed to it.”

It was during a singing workshop with all the dancers for a joint number at the end of Black Sabbath – The Ballet that Lachlan’s talent was spotted by Cassie Abranches who was choreographing the second act. “Cassie came to me later in the day and said ‘would you consider singing a solo on stage, I think it could be really powerful that you’re standing there among the cast and singing?’ I said ‘yes, absolutely, I would love to do that’.”



Prior to Black Sabbath - The Ballet, the largest group Lachlan had sung for was around 30 people in a local village hall - now he was on stage before sell-out audiences of 2,000 a night.

“Actually, the most terrifying thing was standing in the studio having to sing in front of my colleagues at rehearsal,” he recalls. “But they were unbelievably supportive. So then I went on from singing in front of about 30 people to, by the end of the run, having sung in front of about 30,000 people. What it has done for me and for my acceptance and confidence in my voice is huge. It has been a really beautiful and natural way of me sharing something that I have a huge passion for and I feel very grateful for the opportunity. I don’t think there is any other job where I could have just stepped on stage and sung a two-minute solo.”

Lachlan is also gaining experience as a choreographer, having created Axios which was shared on social media for World Ballet Day 2023. And he is keen to continue building his skills. “With choreography, I would like to develop a style and see what I enjoy doing the most,” he says. “In any ballet career the dreams and the planning are very important but there are so many variables. And that is exciting as you look at what you can get your teeth into. At the moment I am enjoying everything I’m doing and the ways I can give back to the company. I feel very fortunate.”

BRB perform The Sleeping Beauty at Birmingham Hippodrome on Feb 21-March 2, see here for information and tickets.

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