Let’s look at the quirky charm of the Pineapple Poll Ballet in this article.
What is the Pineapple Poll Ballet?
The Pineapple Poll is a ballet in three scenes.
The plot is adapted by John Cranko from ‘The Bumboat Woman’s Story’ by W.S. Gilbert. The music is from the operas of Arthur Sullivan, chosen and arranged by Charles Mackerras.
The scenery and costumes were done by Osbert Lancaster.
The Pineapple Poll Ballet was first performed by the Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet at Sadler’s Wells Theatre on the 13th of March 1951.
The Pineapple Poll Ballet is an imaginative performance blending fruit symbolism with graceful movement. It began as a lighthearted community expression and has blossomed into an engaging theatrical experience that delights audiences with its playful spirit.
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Synopsis:
Scene 1:
The ballet takes place in Portsmouth. Sailors with their sweethearts and wives are gathered outside an Inn on the quayside.
Poll, the bumboat woman, enters with a basket of flowers and trinkets which she sells to the tars and their womenfolk.
Jasper, a pot boy at the inn, expresses his love for her but she rejects him.
Then appears Captain Belaye, commander of the HMS Hot Cross Bun, of such devastating good looks and charm that every woman collapses on seeing him. The sailors are horrified when their girlfriends swoon at the sight of the Captain.
He is waiting for the arrival of his fiancée Blanche, chaperoned by her garrulous aunt Mrs Dimple.
When Captain Belaye returns to the port, the town’s girls and Pineapple Poll once again try to capture his interest. Captain Belaye manages to escape from the girls with much difficulty, and the girls are then left sighing after the Captain, while the members of his crew vent their anger against him.
Scene 2:
The scene is the quayside.
Poll enters, gazing with helpless passion at Captain Belaye’s ship. She disguises herself as a midshipman and goes aboard. Other members of the crew appear with their faces hidden by straw hats, walking with a certain deliberation.
Jasper comes in search of Poll but finds only her discarded clothes and mourns her, believing she drowned.
Scene 3:
On Board HMS Hot Cross Bun, the crew is a somewhat weak and puny bunch. They obey Belaye’s orders as best they can, with Poll, moon-eyed with unrequited love, tending to faint at Balaye’s feet.
The firing of the ship’s cannon reduces the crew to jelly as Balaye is awaiting the arrival of his beloved whom he is to marry that day.
When Blanche and her aunt arrive, the crew tear off in their disguises as jolly jack tars, and stand revealed as the sweethearts and wives of the first scene.
Balaye is aghast, but at this moment the real crew angrily returns with Jasper, and mutiny is in the air until Blanche and Mrs Dimple persuade the men to forgive their womenfolk.
Matters seem to take a turn for the worse when Balaye reappears in even more splendid clothes as an admiral, but Poll’s affections are diverted back to Jasper when he is given Belaye’s discarded captain’s uniform.
All of the girls then return to the ship’s deck, wearing their own clothes, and are welcomed back by their delighted boyfriends. The girls swoon at the sight of Jasper in his new Captain’s uniform, but this time the sailors can keep their girlfriends in check, and all ends happily.
The ballet ends in a joyous dance with the apotheosis of Mrs Dimple as Britannia.
Here is the full Pineapple Poll for you to enjoy. It is the 2015 performance by Amherst Ballet accompanied by the Valley Light Opera Orchestra.
The Pineapple Poll is a comic masterpiece. Cranko’s unflagging gift for humorous writing in which the very best of his talent was engaged, never seemed fresher than in this irresistible ballet.
The jokes are effortlessly part of the dances, for example, Mrs. Dimple’s inability to hold both a stol and a parasol at the same time, Belaye’s splendid solo based upon the sailor’s hornpipe, or the antics of the supposed crew in the third scene.
The timing and pace of each incident are masterly. David Blair created a supremely debonair figure of Belay with Elaine Fifield as the adorable Poll. David Poole made the most touching Jasper.
After all these decades Pineapple Poll ballet has lost none of its ebullience or charm. The ballet was staged by Cranko in Australia in 1954 for the Borovansky Ballet and entered the repertory of the National Ballet of Canada in 1959. It was restaged for the Australian ballet in 1966.
If you are a Pineapple Poll fan, you may enjoy owning this cute Tee.
Many ballet companies around the world are still dancing the Pineapple Poll ballet as part of their repertoire.
