Peter Darrell CBE   1929 - 1987
Founder Choreographer of Scottish Ballet

Peter Darrell CBE, founder of the Scottish Ballet, was born at Richmond, Surrey, on September 16th, 1929 and died in Glasgow on December 2nd, 1987. He was 58, and for almost four decades had been one of the most productive and imaginative talents in British Ballet.  He studied at the Sadler's Wells Ballet School, joined the opera ballet there and then took part in the inaugural performance of what is now Birmingham Royal Ballet.

He then worked in musicals and at the Malmö Opera House, Sweden, until the founding of Ballet Workshop at the old Mercury Theatre brought the chance for would be choreographers to try their talents. Darrell proved to be their best discovery, and from 1951 to 1955 he made a series of skilled and original works there. This experience led, in 1952, to his first professional commission when Anton Dolin invited him to do a new version of Harlequinade for Festival Ballet.

From the first, Darrell had two guiding aims: to use classical ballet to entertain the widest possible public, and to introduce contemporary themes and the influence of other theatrical skills. This led in 1956 to a collaboration with the like-minded Elizabeth West, who was teaching at the Old Vic School in Bristol. Together they founded the company which was then called Western Theatre Ballet. After her untimely death in 1962, Darrell remained in sole charge.

That company soon won a high reputation for the drama, humour and individuality of its productions, starting with The Prisoners (1957), which has been revived frequently. Also notable among Darrell's very large creative output for that company were his modern-dress interpretations of Debussy's Jeux and the first ballet to be based on Beatles music, Mods and Rockers.

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