This was a night to remember in so many different ways. First, I finally broke my duck, insofar as full-length ballets are concerned, after three hospital confinements coincided exactly with previous invitations from Northern Ballet to their productions of Nutcracker (twice) and The Great Gatsby. Thank you for sticking with me. Second, I met some lovely people, both in the bar during the two intervals and sitting next to me in the auditorium. Third, the evening was enhanced even further by the presence of Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, who are supporters of the arts in general, and Northern Ballet in particular. So, not only did I have the pleasure of meeting, and having a short chat, with his father at a Buckingham Palace Garden Party in 2002, but was honoured to be at his 60th Birthday bash at The Grand. OK, I didn’t actually get to meet him up close and personal, but being in the same room will do for me. Oh, and fourth, the production was amazing in every aspect, including one of the most incredible special effects I have ever seen in a theatre.

I make that last point as though I know what I am talking about, which I evidently don’t, but I found the piece so absorbing, wonderfully presented and unlike anything I had expected, that I had to do some research before setting finger to keyboard.

What we have in Romeo & Juliet is a ‘drambalet’ short for dramatised ballet, where the accent is placed on the physical interpretation of the story rather than sticking to orthodox ballet moves. It was a style developed in the Soviet Union to combat ‘western decadence’. It certainly worked for me as I found the whole piece so easy to watch and follow, aside from which, the music by Sergei Prokofiev was wonderful. If you have too much time on your hands and enjoy the schadenfreude (get him!) of seeing people who are arrogant, just plain dumb, or both, get their comeuppance, then you will recognise the main theme from the score as being the introduction to The Apprentice.

To refresh your memory, just click on this link to hear it played by the London Symphony Orchestra while you, hopefully, continue to read my article https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_hOR50u7ek

Joseph Taylor and Dominique Larose as Romeo and Juliet

There were still lots of recognisable ballet moves, as can be seen from the photographs and an ample supply of men in tights, and when I say tight, I mean tight, as well as ballerinas in pointe shoes, so it was a ballet rather than the ‘modern dance’ I might have led you to believe.

I imagine that, even those put off the works of William Shakespeare by teachers such as the ones I had at grammar school, who seemed to have even less interest in the bard than we adolescent schoolboys did, know the gist of the story, but here is the synopsis as it applies to this ballet.

The premise is that, in Verona, there were two feuding families, the Montagues and the Capulets, who start a rumble at every opportunity, including in the marketplace as it is being decorated for a carnival by the former family, a member of which is Romeo, Lord Montague’s son. He is with his two besties; Benvolio and Mercutio. As the square fills up the Capulets arrive and it is not long before Romeo and Tybalt, Lord Capulet’s nephew, engage in some extra-curricular activities. Soon the whole town is at it, until an intervention from the Prince of Verona brings matters to a halt, by warning that if the two families don’t play together nicely, the odd death sentence will be handed down. As we had a real life prince in the audience, I resolved to sit up straight and watch my Ps and Qs.

Rachael Gillespie with, at the rear, Harry Skoupas as Tybalt and Jackson Dwyer as Paris

The action switches to Juliet’s bedroom where she is being dressed by her nurse, or at least that is what the servant is trying to do but her charge is proving reluctant to comply. Her parents, Lord and Lady Capulet enter, putting a stop to the shenanigans, with a guest, Count Paris, who, having become instantly besotted by her, and not being one to mess about, immediately offers his hand in marriage.

Cut to a masked ball that evening at the Capulets’ house which Romeo and his crew have decided to gatecrash. When they get in, Romeo sees Juliet dancing with Paris, and he too falls under her spell. Mercutio, sensing his friend’s ardour, decides to distract the guests by acting the fool, so that Romeo can make his move. Tybalt recognises Romeo and orders him to leave, which he does, shortly after which, the ball comes to an end.

Aaron Kok as Mercutio

At the end of what has turned out to be quite a day for Juliet, she finds it hard to get to sleep so she goes for a walk out onto the balcony – you knew that was coming – to gaze at the sky. She hears footsteps and sees Romeo below who declares his love for her.

Act 2 begins back in the town square the following morning at the carnival procession in which the participants, led by Mercutio and Benvolio, are in bird costume. Romeo is in no mood to join in as he can only think of Juliet, whose nurse approaches him to deliver a letter from Ms Capulet in which she agrees to be his wife. She obviously doesn’t let the grass grow either. They meet in secret at the chapel where the knot is tied by Friar Lawrence, with the nurse acting as witness.

Meanwhile, back in the square, the families are at it again, this time with fatal consequences when Tybalt kills Mercutio. Romeo arrives and sees the body so takes revenge by killing Tybalt. This obviously means that he has to do a runner from Verona or suffer the Prince’s threatened sentencing. A meteorological storm breaks as Lady Capulet mourns Tybalt’s death.

The final act sees Romeo and Juliet in her bedroom as he bids her goodbye and takes his leave. Enter Juliet’s parents with Paris, whom she refuses to marry, for obvious reasons, thus incurring her father’s wrath, causing her to run to Friar Lawrence for advice. He comes up with a solution, literally, a bottle of liquid which will put her in a death-like sleep.

Joseph Taylor and Dominique Larose as Romeo and Juliet

She returns home and, as she is being prepared for her betrothal by her nurse and mother, Paris tries to regain her trust. Once left alone, she drinks the tincture and lapses into a deep slumber.

The following morning, when the ceremony is supposed to take place, Juliet’s friends sneak into her room to decorate it before she wakes up. The nurse arrives with the wedding dress, at which point they see that the body is apparently lifeless so they take it to the crypt to be placed inside the family tomb, making it a kind of Two Weddings and a Funeral.

Meanwhile, Romeo has slipped back into Verona in disguise and, hearing about Juliet’s fate, goes to the crypt where he meets Paris by her body. Overcome with grief and anger, he kills Paris and drinks a bottle of real poison. Juliet wakes from the anaesthetic, sees the two bodies and, wanting to be reunited with Romeo in death, she stabs herself.

Friar Lawrence arrives, as do the Lords Capulet and Montague, who finally recognise the futility of their feud.

I apologise to any Shakespeare aficionados whom I might have offended by employing such a flippant tone, but, in spite of the threats, violence and killings, that is how the ballet was mostly presented. The nurse, danced by Heather Lehan, and Mercutio, Aaron Kok, were both comedic figures bringing a great deal of levity to proceedings, as did Dominique Larose, the dancer who portrayed Juliet, in the early part an innocent, playful girl but one which quickly morphed into maturity, as each twist of the plot brought home the more serious implications of life.

Dominique Larose as Juliet

I was totally in awe of the skills shown by all of the dancers, but the men, who had to perform the fight scenes at such a pace that I thought one or two of them might really meet their end on a dagger or sword, were seriously impressive. The physicality and stamina required was mind boggling. Joseph Taylor, as Romeo, spent a large amount of time on stage, usually in combat, assisted by Mercutio, who, even though killed off at the end of Act 2, had some prolonged dances to perform, usually with Benvolio, Stefano Varalta.

To make life easier for the audience, there was a handy colour coded costume theme, with the Montagues dressed in light colours, and the Capulets, except for Juliet, in black. It wasn’t a case of goodies and baddies as Romeo was no angel, but the pantomime boos at the curtain call signified that the sable outfits of Tybalt (Harry Skoupas) and Paris (Jackson Dwyer) who also had several energetic bouts of conflict to perform, had set the tone. The remaining cast members, whose dances were a little more sedate, were; Jonathan Hanks as Lord Capulet; Abigail Prudames, Lady Capulet; Andrew Tomlinson as Lord Montague and George Liang, Friar Lawrence.

Dancers from Northern Ballet in their Capulet bad boy black!

The music was played superbly by the Sinfonia of Northern Ballet under the baton of Daniel Parkinson with Orchestra Leader, Geoffrey Allen. It was composed by Sergei Prokofiev and Orchestrated by John Longstaff.

The list of creatives is immense, which explains why the staging was so impressive, especially given the setbacks suffered in recent years, scroll back a couple of items on the opening page of this site for details. The teams were led by Christopher Gable CBE who Directed and Devised the production; Choreographer, Massimo Moricone; Assistant Director, Mollie Guilfoyle; Tour Lighting Alastair West; Production and Costume Design, Lez Brotherston OBE and Paul Pyant, Original Lighting Design.

Romeo & Juliet runs at Leeds Grand Theatre until 16th March after which it visits Sheffield Lyceum Theatre from 2nd to 6th April, Nottingham Theatre Royal 30th April to 4th May, Norwich Theatre Royal 14th to 18th May, London Sadler’s Wells 28th May to 1st June, Royal Shakespeare Theatre 19th to 28th September, Southampton Mayflower 3rd to 5th October, Canterbury Marlowe Theatre 9th to 12th October and Newcastle Theatre Royal 23rd to 26th October. Please note that at the last four venues, the ballet will be performed to recorded music rather than a live orchestra.

You will notice that I haven’t written anything about the mind-blowing special effect, well, I’m not going to. I loved this ballet so much that I want you to go and see it for yourself, so a spoiler would defeat the object. I just hope that you enjoy the experience as much as I did, even without the presence of royalty in the dress circle. Check out the links below and I think you will find that the ticket prices are not as expensive as you might imagine.

For full details, and to make a booking please go to https://northernballet.com/romeo-and-juliet

For a list of further Northern Ballet productions see https://northernballet.com/

Details of shows coming to Leeds Grand Theatre it is https://leedsheritagetheatres.com/whats-on/?theatre=leeds-grand-theatre

Feature image supplied by Northern Ballet, all photographs by Emily Nuttall.

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