Royal Ballet Condemned From Beyond the Grave

The former artistic director of Britain’s Royal Ballet has delivered an extraordinary attack on the institution from beyond the grave, accusing its management of sabotaging his productions and of conspiring to hound him out.In a tale of intrigue as dramatic as anything to grace the ballet’s famous stage in Covent Garden, the words of the late Ross Stretton have come back to haunt the company.Stretton left the Royal Ballet in September 2002 after a disastrous yearlong tenure in which his management style and artistic vision were heavily criticized.In an interview recorded before his death and now made public for the first time, the Australian spoke of a plot to force him out. He also claimed that Royal Ballet grandees “hated” him because he was a “colonial.”Stretton lay much of the blame for his troubles at the door of Lady Deborah MacMillan, the widow of the choreographer Sir Kenneth MacMillan.The interview, from the archives of the National Library of Australia, was recorded in 2003 and initially embargoed for 40 years.However, when Stretton was diagnosed with terminal cancer he instructed that the transcript be released three years after his death. He died in June 2005, at age 53.Problems began when he arrived in 2001 and began replacing some of the company’s most revered dancers with younger rivals, sparking reports that he was sexually involved with his protégées. “All of that garbage was in the paper, and I can only assume that’s from promoting young dancers over deadwood,” he said. Asked, “Did they hate your guts because you were a colonial?” he said, “I feel so.”Ms. MacMillan, herself an Australian, was at the center of the plot to oust him, Stretton claimed. Her husband was director of the Royal Ballet between 1970 and 1977. Stretton accused her of clashing with him over the choice of ballets commemorating the 10th anniversary of her husband’s death. The end came, he claimed, when she issued an ultimatum to the board, saying she would withdraw the rights to her husband’s repertoire unless Stretton was removed.Ms. MacMillan said yesterday: “This story is very sad, but it has so much wrong in it that I think we have to be careful with what’s been reported here. Maybe Ross was sick, maybe he was confused; it’s hard to know what he actually said.”She denied that she had issued an ultimatum, but said she had been dismayed by his dismissive attitude to her late husband’s work.The Royal Ballet declined to discuss the claims.

Royal Ballet Condemned From Beyond the Grave

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