This, perhaps surprisingly, was, on my reckoning, only the third full-length ‘classical’ ballet I have ever seen – the other two were by Matthew Bourne – the classic Swan Lake (in the theatre) and his equally powerful re-working of Romeo and Juliet – although only on film.
The choreography was home-grown so I do not really know how significant that was or is compared to the ‘original’; what I do know is how wonderfully and powerfully the story was told. I cannot judge the quality of the dancing (although some little sequences which recalled some of the similar sort of moves I do in the gym did again remind me how scarily fit dancers must be!)
Seeing it from a seat at the top of the theater was interesting and certainly for some of the bustling street scenes, this was a better place to have seen it rather than being in the stalls on eye level as one could much more clearly see the swirling patterns the corps de ballets made on the stage.
A major element of the power of this piece was, unsurprisingly, the music. Prokofiev’s harsh astringency, even in the most romantic moments made those moments all the more powerful as this harmonic astringency was, it seemed to me, like a foreshadowing of the tragedy to come.
I particularly liked the mime enactment of Romeo and Juliet awaking, as per the Friar’s plan (on a raised platform on the stage) at the time when the Friar was explaining to her his plan and had given her the potion. Very smart staging idea and poignant too.