Why does Lescaut’s Mistress not have a name?
Since we first started watching Kenneth MacMillan’s 1974 Manon in the late ’70s we have found the role of Lescaut’s Mistress to be an increasingly engaging and fascinating character.
As you will likely know, the Mistress is one of four protagonists, the other three being Manon herself, her Lover Des Grieux, and her Brother Lescaut. Famously, to aid her preparation for creating the role of the Mistress, Monica Mason read the whole of Abbé Prévost’s novel The Story of the Chevalier des Grieux and Manon Lescaut, upon which the ballet was based. However, to her disappointment, instead of discovering more about the Mistress, all she discovered was that no such character exists in the 1731 novel.
Not only did MacMillan invent the character of the Mistress, but he gave her two delicious solos and a pas de deux. The importance of the role is highlighted by the fact that it was created for Mason, a principal ballerina, who would moreover be dancing with an equally high-profile principal dancer, David Wall, as Lescaut. (You can read more about Wall in our “Male Dancers in British Ballet Now & Then” post.)
Sometimes dancing the Mistress can be a stepping stone to dancing Manon herself. Yasmine Naghdi, whose exquisite Manon we enjoyed this season, danced the Mistress in the Royal Ballet’s last revival of the work, in 2018. Similarly, her coach, Laura Morera (now in charge of overseeing the MacMillan repertoire for the MacMillan Estate) danced the Mistress for several seasons before her debut as Manon. And we are hoping that Mayara Magri, who is dancing the Mistress this season, will follow suit …
But for us, the importance of this character is not connected to career progression: rather, the importance of Lescaut’s Mistress lies in her feistiness and the sheer ebullience of her dancing. In their reviews critics highlight the different facets of her character as portrayed by individual dancers, showing the richness of her personality. Morera’s Mistress is “teasing” (Levene), while Yanela Piñera of Queensland Ballet is “spicy” and “sassy” in the role (Lois), and Katja Khaniukova of English National Ballet (ENB) dances “with creamy sensuality” (Mead, “The Full Depth”). Of all the Mistresses we have seen, the dancer who lives most vividly in our memory is Crystal Costa, former First Soloist with ENB. David Mead captures the essence of her performance: “Crystal Costa was spirited and vibrant. Bubbly and effervescent. She stole almost every scene she was in” (“Jurgita Dronina”).
In our opinion all of these characteristics are integral to the Mistress’ solos. Her expansive use of the kinesphere in movements such as développés and relevés lents à la seconde, and grandes sissonne ouvertes, along with her command of the general space, as she slices her way across the stage and travels around its circumference, clearly indicates her bold spirit, while the contrasting tricky pirouettes, intricate beats and piqués suggest her sharpness and wit. At the same time the Mistress indulges in flirtatious, coquettish gestures and head tilts, lifts her skirts with tantalising glee, and uses central pathways in her kinesphere to unfurl her arms with sensuous aplomb.
While the two solos and the duet with Lescaut are the highlights of the Mistress’ role, other, less central, moments reveal more about her personality. Just a few minutes into Act I Lescaut slaps her on account of her unsolicited flirtatious behaviour, and yanks her mercilessly towards a passing cart of convicted prostitutes to remind her of her potential fate (the fate that in fact befalls Manon). Given this treatment of her by her Lover, the ebullience of her solos strikes us as all the more remarkable, as does her humour and “haughty disdain” (Lois) in the duet. In Act II, although tipsy, she is sufficiently alert to be aware of and disapproving of Des Grieux’s cheating at cards. It seems to us that in a world where women have limited choices the Mistress is a survivor. And we are in no doubt that she will survive Lescaut’s death.
Throughout this post we have been acutely aware that we been repeatedly referring to the subject of our writing as “Lescaut’s Mistress” or “the Mistress”. This is because, despite having created such as smart, sexy, sassy character, MacMillan never dignified her with a name; and her title is dependent on her relationship with a man. In Antony Tudor’s one-act Jardin aux lilas (1936) only one character is given a name: Caroline. The other characters are identified in accordance with their relationship to Caroline: Her Lover, The Man She Must Marry, An Episode in His Past. In this instance the reasoning is clear: Caroline is at the heart of the drama, which is presented through her eyes. In contrast, even though Manon’s story is indisputably the focus of the stage action, apart from Lescaut’s Mistress, each of the protagonists has their own name, independent of their relationship with one another.
Every dancer who performs the Mistress emphasises different facets of her personality: even from the available recordings this evident, never mind the wealth of live performances we have witnessed. And there is undoubtedly more for dancers to mine in the choreographic riches of the role …
So, to conclude, there seems to be no good reason why Lescaut’s Mistress does not have a name. Is it not time that she did?
© British Ballet Now & Then
Dedicated to the “spirited, vibrant, bubbly and effervescent” Crystal Costa
References
Levene, Louise. “Manon, Royal Opera House, London”. Financial Times, 1 Oct. 2014, https://www.ft.com/content/381eb35e-494a-11e4-8d68-00144feab7de.
Lois, Leila. “Dance review: Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon”. ArtsHub, 3 Oct. 2022, https://www.artshub.com.au/news/reviews/dance-review-kenneth-macmillans-manon-2583405/.
Mead, David. “The full depth of love and loss: English National Ballet in Manon”. SeeingDance, 21 Jan. 2019, https://www.seeingdance.com/english-national-ballet-manon-21012019/.
—. “Jurgita Dronina spellbinding in English National Ballet’s Manon”. SeeingDance, 24 Oct. 2018, https://www.seeingdance.com/enb-manon-26102018/.
British Ballet Now & Then 