ROH Broadcast: Romeo and Juliet

The Royal Ballet – Recorded Broadcast

Since its 1965 premiere with The Royal Ballet, Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet has become a great modern ballet classic of the world repertory. The nuanced and detailed choreography gives dancers in the lead roles a wealth of opportunity for differing interpretations of the doomed lovers.

Evocative designs by Nicholas Georgiadis bring the colour and action of Renaissance Verona, where a busy market all too quickly bursts into sword fighting and a family feud leads to tragedy for both the Montagues and the Capulets. Prokofiev’s ravishing score sweeps this dramatic ballet towards its inevitable, emotional end.

Romeo and Juliet fall passionately in love, but their families are caught up in a deadly feud. They marry in secret, but tragic circumstances lead Romeo to fight and kill Juliet’s cousin Tybalt. As punishment, he is banished from the city.

When Juliet’s parents force her to marry Paris, she takes drastic action by drinking a potion to make her appear dead so she can escape to join Romeo. News of the plan fails to reach him and he returns to visit her tomb grief stricken. Presuming Juliet lifeless, he drinks a phial of poison. Juliet wakes to find Romeo dead. Devastated, she stabs herself.

Approximate running times:
Act I: 1 hour
Interval: 20 minutes
Act II: 35 minutes
Interval : 20 minutes
Act III: 40 minutes