Her faint on being kissed by Romeo is a comic parody of Juliet’s reaction to the same experience. There is some delightful slapstick comedy as Romeo and his pals tease the Nurse in an attempt to get the letter from her. Marcelino Sambe in particular almost steals the show with his feisty and cocky in your face Mercutio. It goes without saying that Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy, perhaps the greatest tragedy of teenage love ever but this doesn’t prevent MacMillan from having some fun on the journey. From womb to tomb in the blink of an eye. Juliet is just 13 the same age as Shakespeare’s daughter Susanna when he was writing the play. On the bed, we see Romeo and Juliet at the height of their passion but with the simple device of the removal of the sheets, the bed is transformed into a black marble tomb, on which they will come to a tragic denouement.
With this, he combines love and death in one devastating prop. Even the famous balcony scene is here presented as an unbridgeable obstacle, as the lovers reach out but fail to touch. Portcullis grating, lowered slowly to emphasise the impending doom, haunts Romeo and Juliet everywhere. A wonderful illustration of prolepsis – or foreshadowing. We first see Juliet at home, in her room are two cages with stuffed birds. His theme is enclosure, entrapment and exile. The set designs by Nicholas Georgiadis show a clear, compelling and coherent vision of the meaning of the ballet. If this scene is all sweetness and light then the finale in the tomb scene is harrowing and shattering. This is most obvious in the sustained lyrical directness of the magnificent balcony scene. Contrasting the lyrical and the dissonant he created a mesmerising blend of light and dark.
Romeo and juliet royal opera house full#
The contrast between delightful comic moments and devastating tragic intensity is realised using the full orchestral range.
The result is a thrilling musical realisation that doesn’t just accompany the action on stage but is an integral part of it. Using the Wagnerian technique of the leitmotif he introduces memorable phrases that repeat and deepen in emotional intensity as the plot unfolds. A perennial favourite with Classic FM listeners Prokofiev’s music for Romeo and Juliet is superb. Where to start? The music is just spine-tingling.
In short as near perfect a ballet as one is ever likely to see this year or any other year. Add to the mix the sublime dancing of Francesca Hayward as Juliet and Cesar Corrales as Romeo and the outcome is way more than the sum of these outstanding parts. Photographer Helen Maybanks / ROHĬombining the plot of Shakespeare, the music of Prokofiev, the choreography of MacMillan, the set designs of Georgiadis and the conducting of Kessels it would be difficult to top this production if you tried. Romeo and Juliet: Francesca Hayward (Juliet) and Cesar Corrales (Romeo). Romeo and Juliet is one of the greatest in the repertoire. It was the collective expression of relief and joy after 18 months of isolation. When the announcer welcomed the audience to the first post-pandemic ballet at Covent Garden last night the response from a packed house, was electric.
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