Quote:

 

Martha Wainwright: Song and dance girl

Martha Wainwright is lending her voice to a raunchy new ballet of Kurt Weill's 'Seven Deadly Sins'. Charlotte Cripps joins her in rehearsal at Covent Garden
Published: 19 April 2007

The singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright, 30, is better known for being a hugely talented musician than for hanging out with the Royal Ballet. She's like a fish out of water today, standing in a large white rehearsal room at the Royal Opera House, surrounded by dancers, who sweep across the floor, oblivious to Wainwright, who is positioned alone near the grand piano.

It's Wainwright's first close encounter with the world of ballet, yet she is about to star in the world premiere of Will Tuckett's raunchy new version of Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins, at Covent Garden. This is the story of Anna, a singer and dancer, who travels across America and turns to prostitution to fund the building of a house for her family on the banks of the Mississippi. Along her journey, Anna encounters each of those sins.

Wainwright will sing the Bertolt Brecht libretto (translated into English by WH Auden and Chester Kallman) live on stage as the ballet's narrative. She'll share the role of the two sisters, both called Anna, with the Royal Ballet principal dancer Zenaida Yanowsky.

Scenes include Wainwright revealing the darker aspects of Anna as she sits on the edge of a bed watching Yanowsky's downtrodden Anna have sex, at her suggestion, with a punter under a blanket. The production makes it clear that the two sisters are two sides of the same person. It's just that Wainwright as the immoral Anna walks off with the cash, while the victim Anna has to do all the dirty work.

"I spend most of the time getting out of the way of flying feet," Wainwright says. "You can't just saunter in and out of the scene. Every second is choreographed. It's not remembering what line to sing next, but how I am going to get across the stage from one position to the next. There can be up to 10 male dancers descending on the stage at once."

Ever since the Canadian singer arrived in Covent Garden from her home in Brooklyn, New York three weeks ago, she has endured the gruelling routine of daily rehearsals at the ROH. "Lunch break! They don't take a lunch break. They might grab a quick cup of tea and eat a banana, but this place is like boot camp," Wainwright says. "Their world revolves around ballet. A lot of them have been in this building since they were kids. They have known each other for years. They are so driven. It's rare to find such passionate people. They need to get out more often!

"But I guess that, for some of them, their careers are over once their bodies are crippled to such a point that they can't work any more. Then is their time to explore the world."

Wainwright spent much of her life performing with other people - as a backing singer with brother Rufus, singing a duet with Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol on "Set Fire to the Third Bar", and even touring as a child with the McGarrigle Sisters and Family with Rufus, and her folk-singer mother Kate McGarrigle and aunt Anna. Then, in 2005, she released her well-received solo debut album Martha Wainwright. The album bursts with emotive folk-rock songs about her doubts and family insecurities, including one blistering tirade against her father, the folk singer Loudon Wainwright III.

This project with the Royal Ballet is an entirely new direction. Wainwright took ballet lessons as a child and, although she walked out of drama classes while at university in Montreal to become a singer, the training has come in handy. "This show has really called upon my showbiz chops," she says.

Watching Wainwright in rehearsal, it is obvious that she feels like an outsider in a private club. The ballerina Yanowsky arrives for rehearsals swathed in blue, and pulls off that layer to reveal a purple lycra top, black leggings and pointe shoes. As she takes a tumble and hits her foot on the metal bed, Wainwright's song trails off into silence as the ballerina sits with a bag of ice on her precious foot.

Another principal ballerina, Marianela Nuņez, who plays the whore, wears red leggings and dances in black shoes with kitten heels. She's sharing rehearsing the part with Yanowsky and so she has to rehearse the part of Anna all over again with Wainwright.

All around her is the organised chaos that is a dance rehearsal. At the sides of the room, dancers lift each other or sit reading magazines, while the choreographer Tuckett tries to get everyone to stop chatting. By the piano, which has been moved nearer to Wainwright at the front, the male singers also pop up in the ballet's action, playing the family.

Before this afternoon's full cast rehearsal, Wainwright takes the chance to chat about this project. Her look is very natural - old jeans, grey jumper, no make-up - and her manner is unaffected. "I wouldn't do this as a full-time career," she says. "As a singer-songwriter, you keep your own hours. I like the freedom of that existence. I don't really do what the record company tells me. It's up to musicians to motivate themselves to be creative. Your life is your creation. You don't go to work and then leave your work behind. This experience has certainly taught me to enjoy the weekends!"

Wainwright was born in America but spent most of her childhood in Montreal with her mother after her parents split up when she was a young child. She says she has never been happier than she is now. She will release her second album later in the year and is engaged to marry her bass player, Brad Albetta, who produced her debut album.

Brooklyn, New York is her home, in a place she describes as "a dump, and the ceiling is falling down". She wants to "make an adult move" to a better house. So far, the plans for a September wedding include "a lamb on a spit". She also wants to quit smoking "for real" and "lose five pounds" before she gets on stage with "the skinny prima ballerinas".

Staying in London for this show has given her the chance to catch up with her father Loudon and her half-sister Lucy Roche, who are touring the UK singing on the same bill, and she's also met up with her great friend, the singer-songwriter Beth Orton.

Wainwright, who used to live in the shadow of the rest of her showbiz kin - "You have better relationships with people when you have better feelings towards yourself" - found it challenging to join the family trade. But these days, she is no longer plagued by self-doubt. After her first album, on which she gave vent to all her inadequacies, she moved on.

"I've always had a chip on my shoulder. I felt less than other people, inadequate - it's actually indulgent and self-obsessed," she says. "What keeps me up at night is not whether I will sell more records than Rufus, but will I be able to write more great songs? Every artist needs to answer to himself. It's about the connection you have with your instrument, your soul and the truth that is inside of you - to make those connections and express something that is of interest to people is what I am more concerned about. The songs on the first album are about trying to get out of the shadow and to find the self-confidence and belief in myself to do it.

"As you get older, it gets less about your own navel-gazing. The problems of the world become a little more global. You can also be aware, not only of your own self-pitying but also of the tragedy that is around us, and what you can do to expose that and in turn try to help the situation if possible."

Wainwright's 35-minute piece is the first in a Royal Ballet triple bill, with Pierrot Lunaire and La Fin Du Jour. "I relate far more to the vulnerable side of Anna that is played by Yanowsky than to the Anna I present, who is willing to sell her soul," she says. "In my first record, a lot of the songs are about my insecurities. There's a lot of strength in these vocals, and certainly a vulnerability, but I think that people will recognise my style of singing in this ballet."

And her family will get the chance to recognise it, too. "They are all coming to watch me perform," Wainwright says. "Rufus is coming on the closing night."

Royal Ballet Triple Bill, 26 April to 9 May, Royal Opera House, London WC2 (020-7304 4000; www.royalopera.org)