The Queen of Denmark using her artistic talents for another ballet production based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytales. This time, the production is for “The Swineherd,” and Queen Margrethe is the designer for the ballet’s costumes and scenery.
- AP
Speaking at a press conference where she debuted the costumes, the Queen said she used caricatures of royals as an inspiration for her work. She said she got her ideas “rather more from outsiders’ comments about my world than from my own world.”
Using bright colors, such as acid green, pink and purple or even polka dots, Queen Margrethe gave her costumes a vivid appearance.
“Everything is abstract, when you dance and not say words,” Queen Margrethe explained. “So we must show it. Nightingale and the flower will appear more real than anything else. The other people must be more artificial, and that is what I have tried to show the wild colors and skirts. All persons before the emperor is stiffer in clothes. This is all something that overturning, while the prince’s costume is more soft, natural and graceful. That was my bid for how to show two worlds without talking.”
Also during the presser, the Queen talked about the story,which she enjoys very much.
“It is one of the fun H. C. Andersen fairy tales. I always find it funny.”
She worked closely with the rest of the ballet’s production team, who found the Queen to be very down-to-earth, despite being the Head of State.
“The Queen is part on an equal footing with others. Just as in any theatrical production,” said James Price, who arranged the music
“The Swineherd” is about a prince who disguises himself as one to get the attention of a princess. It opens tomorrow at the Pantomime Theater in the famed Tivoli Gardens, and will run until September 20th.
This is fourth time the Queen has designed costumes and scenery for a ballet based on Andersen’s works. Last Christmas, she did the same for “The Little Snow Girl.”
She also has done illustration works for JRR Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” books until a pseudonym.
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