Gentleman Jack is being staged as a ballet at Northern Ballet in Leeds

Choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa is creating a ballet version of Gentleman Jack in rehearsals at Northern Ballet in Leeds, adapting Sally Wainwright’s hit TV series; Wainwright is a consultant on the ballet. The work centres on 19th-century landowner Anne Lister, better known for diaries that revealed her passionate lesbian relationships.

The ballet focuses on the two most important women in Lister’s life: Mariana Lawton, her great love who married a man, and Ann Walker, with whom Lister took holy communion in an act they considered a “marriage” and lived until Lister’s death in 1840. Lopez Ochoa, who is Belgian-Colombian and lives in Amsterdam, said she had never heard of Lister before being offered the project but binge-watched the series and accepted.

She described Lister as “audacious” and “in her power”, and said she relates to Lister’s use of her brains to get what she wanted and to not being conventionally feminine. Lopez Ochoa has created more than 100 dances worldwide and has tackled portraits of strong, complicated women before.

The lead role is shared by Gemma Coutts, Amber Lewis and Nida Aydinoğlu, dancers Lopez Ochoa says “dared to take up the space”. The Lister character will wear flat shoes rather than pointes except in the communion scene so she can be more grounded; romantic female pas de deux are rare in ballet, and Lopez Ochoa aims to avoid clichés, making the duets “different, curvier, more sinuous.” Do they kiss?

Key Topics

Culture, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Gentleman Jack, Leeds, Northern Ballet, Anne Lister