DIVA sat down with Clare Croft to find out more about Northern Ballet’s new production
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE BY GUY FARROW
With her signature, dashing top hat firmly on, get ready to see Anne Lister like never before. This March, the world premiere of Northern Ballet’s new production Gentleman Jack will introduce audiences to Anne Lister’s incredible life through dance. From passionate love affairs to breaking the social conventions of the time, Gentleman Jack is here to bring new life and perspective to this legendary story.
One of the people behind this new ballet is dramaturg Clare Croft, dance theorist, historian and author of Jill Johnston In Motion: Dance, Writing, And Lesbian Life. As Gentleman Jack’s dramaturg, Clare acts as a literary and artistic advisor, specialising in research and development of the ballet itself.
It was actually the ballet’s choreographer, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, who first reached out to Clare two years ago. Having grown up in ballet, Clare has spent her career thinking about the way that queerness enters non-verbal spaces in dance. Clare admits to me that she wasn’t a “big Anne Lister person” prior to the new production, as her research was usually confined to the US. “It was like a gift at my doorstep,” Clare tells me. Once she joined the project, she immersed herself in reading Anne Lister’s diaries and looking at the way people have been drawn to Anne for centuries.
But for a story as rich and dense as the life of Anne Lister, how do you turn that into a two-hour ballet? Using Anne’s diaries as a compass, Clare explains that there were key phrases in the text which act as touchpoints for the ballet itself. “In the ballet, the words are represented by an ensemble of dancers,” Clare explains. “There’s evidence in the diaries that Lister had an intimate relationship with her diary. In the ballet, the words are really moving with Anne Lister.”
For many around the world, Anne Lister’s story is one that touches deeply. Many flocked to the BBC hit-adaptation, also called Gentleman Jack, to learn more about the UK’s “first modern lesbian”. “One of the things people get so excited about when it comes to Anne Lister is realising that there was someone like them hundreds of years ago,” Clare explains. “It’s a confirmation of a longer history.”
Since the release of the TV adaptation of Anne Lister’s life, there has been a dedicated fanbase set on protecting the legacy and histories of Anne. With this new ballet’s opening night looming, I ask whether there was ever any pressure to “get it right”.
“I wouldn’t say to anyone that this is an exact representation of Anne Lister,” Clare tells me. “It’s inspired by the boldness she had and her desire to rise in class and ownership. A couple of hardcore fans have seen some works in progress and the feedback has been good.”
With such a compelling figure at the heart of this story, this new production may see a number of first-time ballet-goers head to the theatre. Clare hopes that audience members resonate with the key message in Gentleman Jack. “Ballet has often put forward a pretty idealised notion of what a woman is. There’s something about this production having a range of lead women who are drawn to each other, in love with each other and have sex with each other. At the heart of this ballet is the [message] that there are lots of different ways to be a woman.”
Clare also hopes that this production opens the door for new audiences to enter. “Historically, ballet has been seen as a classed, gendered and racialised practice. The idea of being able to crack open a space that has not necessarily been a place for queer women raises questions about other art forms too. I hope folks in the queer community who’ve never set foot in a ballet theatre might want to give this one a shot. Love it or hate it, I think you’ll find it a pretty interesting two hours.”
You can book tickets to see Gentleman Jack now:
Leeds Grand Theatre (7 Mar 2026 – 14 Mar 2026): leedsheritagetheatres.com
Sheffield Lyceum Theatre (31 Mar 2026 – 4 Apr 2026): sheffieldtheatres.co.uk
Nottingham Theatre Royal (13 May 2026 – 16 May 2026): trch.co.uk
London Sadler’s Wells (19 May 2026 – 23 May 2026): sadlerswells.com
Norwich Theatre Royal (27 May 2026 – 30 May 2026): norwichtheatre.org
Salford The Lowry (4 Jun 2026 – 6 Jun 2026): thelowry.com
Bradford Alhambra Theatre (3 Sep 2026 – 5 Sep 2026): bradford-theatres.co.uk
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