Gentleman Jack [Northern Ballet] – Review – Bradford Alhambra

By Emma White, September 2026

The tale of Anne Lister is indeed a fascinating one and an interesting choice of story for a ballet. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from my evening at the Alhambra Theatre in Bradford at Northern Ballet’s performance of Gentleman Jack.

Anne Lister (1791–1840), otherwise known as Gentleman Jack, was a real person, a larger-than-life character who, as a woman, broke convention in many ways: in her choice of dress, dressing like a man in a black top hat and tails; in her business dealings, as she managed the family estate in Halifax, right here in Yorkshire; and in her personal affairs, navigating her love of women.

As a ballet fan, a mum of a ballet-obsessed child and proud stepmum to a young lesbian couple, I was intrigued to see how ballet, with all of its formality and rules, could tell the tale of someone who broke every rule society placed upon her.

From the outset, the look on stage is stark and sharp. The moody, rhythmic score and the dark costumes set the scene as Gentleman Jack navigates the male-dominated world she operates within, never truly accepted but refusing to bow down to the gender roles of the time. A tale 200 years old, but still relevant today.

image: Emily Nuttall

“Perfectly captured”

Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s strong and decisive choreography leaves us in no doubt of the character of the woman before us, often described as one of the first documented modern lesbians, Anne was a scholar, mainly self-taught, as women were often not well educated in the late 1700s. She was a landowner and a businesswoman, managing the family coal mine and, unusually, a female heir to the family estate.

Gemma Coutts, as Anne Lister, is utterly convincing as an assertive and demanding businesswoman striding through life, being unapologetically herself in her top hat and tails. Throughout, her energetic and audacious approach to life is perfectly captured in movement, with a signature jaunty shoulder shrug and sweep of the brim of her hat.

Ultimately, though, this interpretation of her life is, at its core, a love story, portraying the great loves of Anne’s life, Mariana Lawton and later Ann Walker, who eventually became Anne Lister’s wife.

We follow Anne as she navigates a passionate love affair with Mariana before losing her to a conventional marriage to a man. Saeka Shirai is stunning as Mariana, and the chemistry between the two women is palpable during their sexual encounter on the dining room table. We are left feeling their mutual heartbreak as Mariana walks away with her husband.

image: Scott Salt

“Peak of passion”

Anne moves on, and she and Ann Walker marry in what is widely regarded as the first documented lesbian marriage. In the wedding scene, Anne Lister dances on pointe for the first time. A moment of refinement for her, perhaps? Or one where the conventional creeps in just a little within the church walls. Interesting.

I loved this performance on a lot of levels, but the outstanding moments for me were the writing scenes. Anne was a prolific writer, documenting her life in her own code, designed to keep her thoughts from others. We see her at the peak of passion, sorrow and anger, furiously scrawling with a quill, whilst the ‘Chorus of Words’, with their inky hands and feet, undulate and swirl around her – a representation of her emotional state, boiling over, releasing and then bringing solace and peace to her fierce mind. Powerful.

The performances are flawless, and the score moves us through the story with pace. I very much like that the music is live. The sets deserve a mention, particularly the use of the screens, with their moody skies, images of Lister Hall and our striking Yorkshire landscape, cleverly ever-shifting.

image: Emily Nuttall

“Entirely at home”

This modern ballet is set in history, around a story of bias and discrimination that still resonates today. Whilst ballet is an art form built on formality and structure, here it is pulled apart and put back together again, while the contemporary dance seeps in through the cracks to great effect.

It is worth mentioning the vision behind bringing this extraordinary story to the ballet stage. Gentleman Jack is the first full-length commission of Northern Ballet’s Artistic Director, Federico Bonelli, who wanted to tell Anne Lister’s story through ballet for the first time. He brought together an impressive creative team, with choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and dramaturg Clare Croft shaping the story, Peter Salem composing the score, Christopher Ash designing the set and lighting, and Louise Flanagan creating the costumes.

Sally Wainwright, whose BBC/HBO series brought Anne Lister’s story to a huge modern audience, joined the production as Creative Consultant. It is a remarkable collaboration, and one that feels entirely at home here in Yorkshire, where Anne Lister lived, loved and made her mark.

It’s great. Go and see it.

Gentleman Jack is at Bradford Alhambra Theatre until 5th September
top image: Emily Nuttall