News: Birmingham Royal Ballet premieres short film Empty Stage dedicated performance industry

Following the live and on demand stream of The Nutcracker, Birmingham Royal Ballet continue to find creative ways of keeping audiences entertained with the short film premiere of Carlos Acosta’s first major digital commission Empty Stage.

A poignant, hope-filled response to COVID’s impact on live performance, Empty Stage demonstrates the Company’s deep-rooted desire to keep ballet alive during difficult times.

Directed by Roseanna Anderson and Joshua Ben-Tovim and named after the song by Benjamin Scheuer, the short film features a host of Company dancers as well as some of the members who work behind the scenes to make performances possible, in a heartfelt tribute to the industry.

An initial melancholic tone reflecting on what has been lost transforms into a message of hope as the lights go up and magic re-enters the theatre. The applause we hear is not just an encouragement but recognition of a shared live experience that nourishes all involved.

Birmingham Royal Ballet looks towards the future with hope that at some point this year, the full production of Cinderella will fill the empty stages with dancers, and theatres with audiences as planned. But as uncertainty continues to build for the spring, we can only wait to see what might be possible.

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