Matthew Bourne Film Romeo & Juliet National Dance Theatre Budapest
Feb 17th 2020
Bourne has done it AGAIN. A stunningly powerful re-working of a classic that, for me at least, means that I feel I could never see a ‘traditional’ interpretation again. I feel this with his Swan Lake and now with this.
It was performed by an exceptionally young (and sexy!) cast and the youth really gave both power to the story and made the mad passion of R and J, often somewhat ‘lacking an objective correlative’ if performers are more adult – and whether it is a ballet or opera or the original play, the point remains.
Here the family conflict is nonexistent; rather the setting is a futuristic psychiatric institution (The Verona Institute) for troubled (read unwanted/non-conforming) youth. Juliet is already there for unspecified reasons while Romeo is sent there by his politician parents as he is not the sort of son they need for their campaigns. And with his parents that was the only time where the youth of the performers was a disadvantage. This was particularly noticeable with Romeo’s father who looked the same age as him! Genuine adults would have made it even more striking – and, as in Swan Lake, there was the cold and unemotional mother in a tightly tailored 2-piece suit and very ‘controlled’ hairstyle shrinking from physical contact with her son as was so crucial in Swan Lake. Am I detecting a Bourne theme/issue here…?
The reworking of the characters was very clever. Friar Lawrence (in that there was an exact equivalent) was a weakly enthusiastic trendy female priest who tried to do the right thing but failed miserably. Tybalt was reworked to be the main villain – lusting after Juliet and at the climax appearing as a vengeful ghost to the delusional Juliet whom she stabs but, when waking up from this, finds she has stabbed Romeo instead. Brilliant!
Prokofiev’s spikily aggressive and astringent scored had been cut – the whole story was told without an interval (in the film showing) very concisely and so that much more effectively. There was a tremendous thrilling dramatic drive and sense of inevitability about the action – and any musical cuts made were unnoticeable to me. The choreography matched this stylistically as well – very physical (which sounds silly referencing ballet but am sure you know what I mean). It was sharp and angular without ever seeming Bob Fosse clichéd and so the lyricism of the R and J scenes was all the more poignant and powerful. Check out the video; it gives a good sense of the experience.
A wonderful experience – and not least as I could visit the stunning new National Dance Theatre for the first time.