Kenneth MacMillan’s full-length ballet is a compelling exploration of identity in the turbulent wake of the Russian Revolution.

One of MacMillan’s first creative acts on becoming Director of The Royal Ballet was to adapt Anastasia into a three-act, full-length work, his first for the Company since Romeo and Juliet. He created two preceding acts to the Berlin act, using music by Tchaikovsky to explore Anna’s ‘memory’ of events in the Imperial family leading up to the Russian Revolution – providing a powerful context for the disturbed Anna’s nightmares of the final act. The full ballet, first performed in 1971, was a declaration of intent: it showcased MacMillan’s dual influences, of classical, Royal Ballet tradition in the first two acts, and of German expressionism – a style then entirely new to British audiences – in the final. The ballet remains one of MacMillan’s most experimental and poignant works.

The Story

Events overtake the young Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov and her family: World War I is declared, and then the Russian Revolution brings their privileged lives to an end.

A woman who believes herself to be Anastasia, sole survivor from the massacre of the Romanovs, is incarcerated in an asylum. Memory and fantasy intermingle; she recalls her rescue, the death of her husband, the disappearance of her child and her attempted suicide. But, despite her nightmares, her faith in her own identity cannot be shaken.