Peter Darrell (1929-1987). British dancer, choreographer and director

Peter Darrell was a vital force in the development of ballet in Britain. He founded Western Theatre Ballet with Elizabeth West in Bristol in 1952. At the time of his death in 1987 he had steered his company north, through the vagaries of politics and funding, to become the Scottish Ballet of today. Name changes there were, but his aims for dance were always crystal clear. His reach and range of innovative ideas reflected his time, and he was always intellectually astride currents in theatre and the other arts. His formal ballet training at the Sadler’s Wells Ballet School led to the expected path through to the Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet, and it gave him with a lasting respect for classical ballet. His creative and choreographic talents inspired him to spread his wings and sample a variety of different dance experiences.

Anton Dolin provided Darrell with his first professional experience in 1952 with a commission to choreograph a new version of Harlequinade for London Festival Ballet. After meeting his kindred spirit, Elizabeth West, at the Old Vic School in Bristol, he never looked back. He choreographed, staged and directed with intelligence and flair, both in Britain and abroad, his work always intensely dramatic and intensely modern for its time. Loved and revered by his dancers, and admired by the wider public, his early death cut off a major talent that clearly had much more to give.