Romeo and Juliet, Royal Opera House review: Classic tragedy feels fresh and packed with life
From the star-crossed lovers of Lauren Cuthbertson and Matthew Ball to the bite of the sword fights, it’s an urgent blend of lyricism, storytelling and feeling
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Your support makes all the difference.Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet returns to The Royal Ballet in stirring form. From the star-crossed lovers of Lauren Cuthbertson and Matthew Ball to the bite of the sword fights, it’s an urgent blend of lyricism, storytelling and feeling.
Created in 1965 and set to Prokofiev’s score, MacMillan’s Romeo may be ballet’s most popular. The leading roles are coveted, and this revival will bring a wealth of debuts, from rising names Anna Rose O’Sullivan and Marcelino Sambé to starry guest David Hallberg. The first night brought the pairing of established ballerina Cuthbertson with Ball, back in ballet after an acclaimed run as Matthew Bourne’s male swan in Swan Lake.
They have a fresh, spontaneous chemistry, going for the kisses as eagerly as for the soaring pas de deux. In the ballroom scene, Cuthbertson’s Juliet is wide-eyed and alert, with social little tilts of her head as she reacts to her first party. Then she sees Romeo, and her whole stance changes: she turns to him like a flower following the sun. Dancing for her, Ball’s Romeo moves with floating ease, lost in the moment.
Ball’s Romeo grows through the ballet. In the early brawls between warring Montagues and Capulets, Ball fights with taunting swagger. Avenging his friend Mercutio, he’s driven by rage, attacking the idea of death as well as Gary Avis’s commanding Tybalt.
In the tomb scene, as he cradles Juliet’s body, you can see the moment he accepts her death – but still won’t quite let himself accept it, trying again to carry a corpse through the swooping lines of their earlier duet. Waking to find him dead, Cuthbertson’s Juliet has no hesitations, rushing headlong to join him.
The supporting relationships are also vivid. Confronted by her parents, ordered to marry Paris, Cuthbertson suggests that this is a blowing-up of existing family strife, particularly in the instinctive way she dodges right around her father. Valentino Zucchetti’s impish Mercutio is a wickedly good swordsman, teasing his opponents with sharp, musical phrasing. Marcelino Sambé leads the mandolin dance with virtuoso dash.
From the quarrelling townsfolk to the stately ball guests, this is a Romeo packed with life, the whole company caught up in the ballet’s unfolding tragedy.
Until 11 June. Box office 020 7304 4000
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