Still Life at the Penguin Cafe


Still Life at the Penguin Cafe is an ecocritical ballet choreographed by David Bintley and featuring music composed by Simon Jeffes, founder of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. It is also the title of the accompanying album. Geoffrey Richardson co-wrote one of the pieces. The name of the ballet is derived from that of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, which was Simon Jeffes' ensemble.
The ballet's debut production in 1988 was performed by The Royal Ballet at Covent Garden, in England. The ballet was conceived by David Bintley, who approached Simon Jeffes about the music that was to be used in the choreography. The music for the ballet was drawn from several musical pieces composed by Jeffes before the ballet was conceived, composed during the period 1981 to 1987. Most of the pieces were originally written for small ensembles, consisting of, for example, violin, cello, guitar and piano. Jeffes orchestrated the pieces for the ballet, and in the Royal Ballet production, they were performed by a full orchestra. The ballet was filmed in 1988 by Thames Television and commercially released. The ballet premiered in the United States in 1991.

Ballet story

The pieces / sections in the ballet are:
  1. The Penguin Cafe
  2. Utah Longhorn Ram
  3. Texan Kangaroo Rat
  4. Humboldt's Hog Nosed Skunk Flea
  5. Southern Cape Zebra
  6. Rain Forest People
  7. Brazilian Woolly Monkey
  8. Conclusion

Story line

The ballet begins with a voice-over describing how the great auk was very recently made extinct by man. The initial segment is set in a cafe, where several humans are served by penguins dressed as waiters. The humans watch a number of performances in which endangered species dance. In the conclusion, all the characters withstand a downpour by gathering on an ark-like boat.

Production Details

From the 1988 production:

Dancers

Recordings and publications

  • LaserDisc: London/Decca #071 222-1. See production details above for choreographer, etc. Out of print.
  • Sheet music, arranged for piano by Henry Roche. Published by Peters Edition Ltd 2002;. Still in print as of November 2007.
  • VHS tape — Polygram Records; ASIN 630202367X, 1992. Out of print.
  • DVD — Published by ArtHaus. ASIN: B000Y351ZC. In print since January 2008.
Both the LaserDisc and DVD contain a 50-minute documentary on the Penguin Cafe Orchestra.

Album

The music for the ballet was released as an album, under Jeffes' name, together with an 18-minute suite called Four Pieces for Orchestra, comprising orchestral recordings of earlier PCO tracks:
  1. Perpetuum mobile
  2. Southern Jukebox Music
  3. Oscar Tango
  4. Music for a Found Harmonium