Birmingham Royal Ballet stages The Lunar Society’s female history [Video]

By the light of the full moon, between 1765 and 1813, the Lunar Society would meet monthly at Handsworth’s Soho House. Its members included Birmingham’s great industrialists and inventors: Matthew Boulton, James Watt, Josiah Wedgwood and John Baskerville. But, behind these men, who were their wives, sisters, daughters and housekeepers? The story of the city’s women has long been overlooked but, thanks to BRB, it is now taking centre stage.

This autumn, Luna will premiere at Birmingham Hippodrome before travelling to Sadler’s Wells. A two-act, abstract ballet in six movements, it forms the final part of Carlos Acosta’s Birmingham Trilogy, following on from City of a Thousand Trades and Black Sabbath-The Ballet, which take audiences inside the workshop of the world, where tradesmen thrived, and beats were born.

But Luna presents Birmingham in softer and more thoughtful terms. Devised by an all-female, international creative team, this radical new production leaves the city’s …