Peter Darrell takes his place at Sadler’s Wells Theatre
The Peter Darrell Trust was delighted to unveil a
bronze bust of the late Peter Darrell CBE, founder choreographer of the Scottish
Ballet. This new sculpture, by Alison
Murray Wells, will be displayed alongside those of his peers, at Sadler’s Wells
Theatre in London.
Peter Darrell started his career with Sadler’s Wells Ballet together with a number of young dancers and choreographers, many of whom would become substantial contributors to the history of British Ballet – Kenneth MacMillan, Peter Wright, and John Cranko amongst them. Peter co-founded the Western Theatre Ballet in 1957 in Bristol and led the company to London where it was based at Sadler’s Wells before again moving to Glasgow in 1969 to become The Scottish Ballet.
Acknowledged as a great storyteller in dance and as one of Britain's major choreographers, Peter takes his place with many of the key figures from British dance history that are already represented through a grouping of busts and portraits in the stage door foyer of Sadler’s Wells Theatre.
The Peter Darrell Trust is delighted to have been able to gift this new bronze of Darrell to the collection, with the help of personal donations from friends and supporters.
Speaking before the unveiling Angela Petrie, Chair of The Peter Darrell Trust thanked all the many donors for their contributions that helped to make the creation of the bust possible; Roger Spence, formerly a General Manager of The Scottish Ballet, thanked Sadler’s Wells for their support in achieving our aim and Alison Murray Wells for her brilliant work in bringing Darrell back to life, while also remembering the very special person who Peter Darrell was.
Alistair Spalding, Artistic Director and Chief Executive, of Sadler’s Wells, welcomed Peter back to Sadler’s Wells and spoke of his great choreographic skills and the early ground-breaking narrative works for which he was rightly famed. Alistair then asked Brenda Last to add a few words on Peter before she, Hazel Merry and Oliver Symons, all dancers from the early days of Western Theatre Ballet, unveiled the bronze to an audience of over 30 old friends and colleagues.
You can download information on all the art works here.
Photograph by Alan Crumlish.
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