Photos: First Look At Northern Ballet's GENTLEMAN JACK; THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF ANNE LISTER

This marks the Ballet's world premiere.

By: Gillian Blum Mar. 07, 2026

Check out production photos from the world premiere of Northern Ballet’s new full-length ballet — Gentleman Jack — which is set to captivate audiences as part of a nationwide tour.

Continuing Northern Ballet’s masterful canon of creating stories that connect, this groundbreaking ballet will bring to the stage the life of the 19th century icon, Anne Lister. Gentleman Jack will open in Leeds on March 7 before touring to Sheffield, Nottingham, London, Norwich, Salford and Bradford until September 5.

Yorkshirewoman Anne, described by some as the "first modern lesbian," lived, dressed and loved as she desired, not as 19th century society expected her to. Her diaries were discovered and decoded after her death, revealing a bold, passionate, independent, well-travelled businesswoman who defied societal norms and loved as fiercely as she lived.

Her story has inspired biographies, novels and a hit TV series, and this — Northern Ballet's first large-scale commission since 2021 and the first under Artistic Director Federico Bonelli — is the only production to bring it to life through the powerful medium of dance.

Choreographed by the multi-award-winning Annabelle Lopez Ochoa with Dance Artist and singer/songwriter Jemima Brown (Choreography Consultant) as part of a majority female artistic team that also includes Sally Wainwright (series-writer of the BBC/HBO TV series Gentleman Jack), the ballet will be performed to new, live music composed by Peter Salem.

Check out production photos here:

Photo credit: Emily Nuttall, Colleen Mair, Tristram Kenton

Photos: First Look At Northern Ballet's GENTLEMAN JACK; THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF ANNE LISTER — photo 1 of 8
Gemma Coutts and Rachael Gillespie

Photos: First Look At Northern Ballet's GENTLEMAN JACK; THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF ANNE LISTER — photo 2 of 8
Gemma Coutts and Saeka Shirai

Photos: First Look At Northern Ballet's GENTLEMAN JACK; THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF ANNE LISTER — photo 3 of 8
Gemma Coutts and the Company

Photos: First Look At Northern Ballet's GENTLEMAN JACK; THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF ANNE LISTER — photo 4 of 8
Gemma Coutts

Photos: First Look At Northern Ballet's GENTLEMAN JACK; THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF ANNE LISTER — photo 5 of 8
The Company

Photos: First Look At Northern Ballet's GENTLEMAN JACK; THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF ANNE LISTER — photo 6 of 8
The Company

Photos: First Look At Northern Ballet's GENTLEMAN JACK; THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF ANNE LISTER — photo 7 of 8
The Company

Photos: First Look At Northern Ballet's GENTLEMAN JACK; THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF ANNE LISTER — photo 8 of 8
Rachael Gillespie, Gemma Coutts, George Liang and Alessandra Bramante

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