I have wanted to see Woolf Works since it was first premiered in 2015. In February 2026 I finally got to experience it at The Royal Opera House, and it was definitely worth the wait.
Woolf Works is a ballet inspired by the writing of Virginia Woolf, with each act of the ballet created around a different Woolf book. Act 1, ‘I now, I then’ is inspired by Mrs Dalloway. Act 2, 'Becomings', is based on Orlando, and Act 3, 'Tuesday', takes The Waves as its starting point.
The score is written by Max Richter and moves from traditional classical sounds to the electronic. It is a soundtrack that I have listened to on repeat for years, and I love how it evokes the feeling of Woolf’s work. It also incorporates her text, with her own recorded voice and a reading by Gillian Anderson.
I don’t quite know how to write about a ballet, as it is really something to be experienced, but I shall share how it made me feel.
Act 1, 'I now, I then', tells the story of Mrs Dalloway, so if you are familiar with the book you can follow the narrative of what is happening. We see both a present-day Mrs Dalloway, as she prepares for her party, but we also watch her dance with her younger self, and Peter Walsh, as she remembers her youth all those years ago. I found the section where Septimus dances and ultimately takes his own life deeply moving. The music for this act is so evocative. There are the bells of London as an ongoing theme, and the gentle slow movement of the cello is so powerful. What I love about ballet, and this production in particular, is that even though the set is sparse I could see what was happening as if the stage was full of people and props.
In Act 2, 'Becomings', I experienced a very different type of ballet. A mirrored floor had been installed which beautifully reflected the metallic colours of the costumes of the dancers. This piece had less narrative to follow, in the way that Orlando is a journey of experience over time, but it was a visual feast. The costumes were androgenous in their design, and from my distant seat it was often hard to tell if the dancers were men or women, which only enhanced the effect of this being about Orlando. A strong electronic score, lasers, and lights, made this a very vibrant section. The score is 19 variations on a 17th Century theme, La Folia which has been used by many composers. This also adds to the sense of travelling through time that is at the heart of the story of Orlando, an old theme, realised in a 21st century way.
The final Act, 'Tuesday', was mesmerising to watch. It begins with a reading of Virginia Woolf’s suicide note to her husband Leonard. A solo dancer enters the stage before being gradually joined by the rest of the company, dancing as if they were the waves lapping on the shore. The set was lit with black and white slow-moving images, which evoked the sense of a shoreline. There were six young dancers representing the characters of the book and eventually the whole company danced as one. The music slowly builds over 20 minutes, with the voice of an ethereal soprano soloist adding a depth to the sound. The company gradually fade away, leaving one solo dancer on the stage, who lies down in “the waves”, in a recognition of her Virginia Woolf chose to end her life by drowning.
I was an emotional wreck by the time the curtain closed on the final scene. This was the last performance in the run, so we were treated to a long applause and Wayne McGregor, the choreographer, took to the stage to share his thanks.
I love traditional ballet, and have only seen a couple of contemporary ones, but this just blew me away. Being such a fan of Virginia Woolf and knowing her work certainly helped me to enjoy the ballet more, but even if I knew nothing about the books I would have thoroughly enjoyed myself.
I love that Virginia Woolf continues to inspire people and her work is used in a variety of ways. I believe that in her experiments with writing, Woolf was trying to capture what it means to be alive and live a life. You can tell the narrative of what happens to you, but trying to describe the experience of living almost can’t be put into words. I love that other creatives have taken her experiments and used them as a starting point to explain those same feelings in a new way.
