Lord Berners-Frederick Ashton: A Wedding Bouquet (1937)
The ballet is about a provincial wedding at the beginning of the XXth century. Julia, the main character is slightly demented. She has been "ruined" before by the groom and is now an embarrassment to him. After the wedding is over, she is left alone and unhappy, with only her dog, Pepe to comfort her.
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| A Wedding Bouquet of Ashton at Royal Ballet |
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| Iohna Loots as Pépé |
A Wedding Bouquet was the idea of Lord Berners, who wanted Frederick Ashton to make a ballet pantomime out of one of Gertrude Stein's plays, and who both wrote the music and designed the "decor" and costumes. The original title was "They must be Wedded to Their Wife", but this was thought too long for advertising and was changed to A Wedding Bouquet. Lord Berners went to visit Gertrude Stein in Bilignin and she liked the idea and he found in her house a carpet which gave him the pattern for the stage set.
The character of Julia's dog was inspired by the little dog of Gertrude Stein, Pépé.
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| Gertrude Stein, writer and poet, and her dog, Pépé |
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