By Judy (Golding) Carver
In 2011, the centenary year of my father William Golding, a brilliant and original idea was put to our family by Matthew Bourne and New Adventures: A ballet of Lord of the Flies. William Golding’s revolutionary novel, of schoolboys trapped on an island without adults, was first published in 1954. Not only would this ballet feature boys and men only, but some of that cast would be recruited from schools in and around Glasgow, and would include some boys who had never danced before. By the time I saw the first performance, an extraordinary group of engaged and effective dancers – some of whom had been novices – were inspired and trained to perform one of the most effective adaptations of my father’s novel that I have ever seen. The opening, with its stylised marching, its athleticism and just-contained violence, took my breath away.
The immense task of making this happen was in large part achieved by Scott Ambler, and we are greatly in his debt, and greatly saddened by his death. He changed many lives for the better.
