Kenneth MacMillan and the Subject Matter of Ballet

Sex, violence, and visceral elements of similar dramatic tenor
feature frequently in ballets by the British choreographer
Kenneth MacMillan. Although he publicly acknowledged the
decisive impact of John Osborne’s play Look Back in Anger on
his artistic vision, little detail is known about how his inclination
toward unconventional topics was formed. By revisiting
primary and secondary sources about MacMillan’s life and career,
and by considering them within the context of postwar
British dance and drama, this article explores how this tendency
toward dramatic subject matter progressively took
shape during his first years as a choreographer and purposely
crystalized in 1960 with his ballet The Invitation.