Romeo and Juliet (Birmingham Royal Ballet) – Lowry Theatre, Salford

Music: Sergey Prokofiev

Director: David Bintley CBE

Choreography: Kenneth MacMiIllan

Reviewer: Peter Jacobs

The Public Reviews Rating:

I’m sure enough people are sufficiently familiar with the tale of the star-crossed lovers across the socio-political divide whose simple desire to be together is thwarted at every turn for me not to need to recount the story of Romeo and his Juliet.

One of the great romantic tragedies, there are several versions of Romeo and Juliet in the repertoire of the large-scale classical ballet companies. Manchester audiences were treated to the Northern Ballet Theatre’s version at the Opera House in May 2009 and the English National Ballet bring their Nureyev-created 1977 version to the Palace in October 2010. The Birmingham Royal Ballet’s production was originally choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan in 1965 and was overhauled in 1992 with a completely new production design by Paul Andrew, shortly after the company relocated from London to Birmingham and changed their name. Blessed with one of the all-time great ballet scores courtesy of Prokofiev – although it was considered undanceable when presented to the Bolshoi by the composer in 1935 – how does this version play today?

This production makes the most of the Birmingham Royal Ballet’s strengths: massive staging, sumptuous costumes, an enormous ensemble cast and a depth of talent in their principals, soloists and artists that enables them to present different casting for each performance at The Lowry. That’s no fewer than six Romeos and Juliets, Mercutios, Tybalts, Benvolios etc., all supported by that tremendous music superbly played by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, conducted by Paul Murphy.

The production design is complex and stunning, at times breathtakingly beautiful with the appearance of a Renaissance painting come to life so rich is the use of style and colour in the costumes, the positioning of the artists and the sheer depth, scale and texture of the stage architecture. One large set serves multiple functions as the market place in Verona, the Capulet’s palace ballroom, Juliet’s quarters and the crypt, magically transformed with the addition of furnishings, draperies, heraldic pennants and, of course, a balcony, all brought vividly to life with the impressive use of lighting – from sunny to majestic to intimate to somber to eerie. Regular use is made of flats, which seamlessly rose and fell to create the smaller spaces of the chapel or outside the palace walls. If I had a criticism it would be that the staging is so complex that there are several pauses required so the curtain could be lowered and the set transformed – one especially difficult pause right after the opening scene rather stops the action before it has quite begun. But the finished effects were certainly a delight.

Tonight’s Romeo and Juliet were very pleasing. Nao Sakuma brought a charming simplicity to Juliet and managed to convincingly make the transition from the reluctant child-bride we first see to a young woman unexpectedly in love to the anguished wife driven to desperate acts. Chi Cao’s Romeo also successfully made the journey from cocky jack-the-lad to doomed lover and husband, retaining the essential sense of youth from the original story. Together they brought an authenticity to their relationship; their many pas de deux had moments of intimacy and stillness and an incredible lightness that exploded in a whirl of almost impossibly beautiful lifts. Their final dance is genuinely heartbreaking. The rest of the cast were also superb. Marion Tait, one of the BRB’s most distinctive dramatic dancers, brought conviction and austere elegance to Lady Capulet. Robert Parker had real presence as Tybalt. Mercutio (Alexander Campbell) and Benvolio (Steven Monteith) worked well with Romeo to create that sense of brotherly comradeship that makes their antics likeable and Romeo’s revenge on Tybalt plausible. Victoria Marr made a subtly effective Nurse, a role that can sometimes be too broadly comedic. The rest of the cast were effective in a way that the BRB appear to have mastered. The crowd scenes are superbly choreographed – the market place scenes (especially the Act 1 sword fight) and the Dance of the Knights are especially effective. Whenever people are en tableaux they are always engaged in subtle activity, never distracting but creating a genuine sense of real life and authenticity, avoiding awkward ballet mime acting.

What else can I say? This production of Romeo and Juliet is as good a narrative ballet as you are likely to see. The production is lavish, the company excellent and the familiar story still retains drama and tension and the power to move. It’s well worth going to see it if you like ballet or have fancied the idea without ever taking the plunge.