Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet | Sergej Prokof’ev

Guest again in Turin after Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty staged in 2023, the Prague National Theatre Ballet brings Prokof'ev’s Romeo and Juliet to the stage of the Regio. The Czech company, composed of dancers of eighteen different nationalities, is asked to give body to a wide variety of feelings, from aggression to tenderness, following the rhythms of the very rich score, choreographed by Leonid Lavrovskij. The musical structure of the ballet juxtaposes scenes and characters from Shakespeare’s tragedy in polychrome panels, with bright colors like an Orthodox iconostasis.

Romeo and Juliet was supposed to be performed for the first time at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, but a series of disagreements between Prokof'ev and the Soviet theatre meant that the ballet saw the light in Brno, not far from Prague, in 1938. Initially, a happy ending was thought of, with the excuse of the impossibility of putting the moment of death into dance, which Prokof'ev finally decided to implement: the outcome was admirable, thanks to the visual qualities of his musical writing, which encouraged Eisenstein to collaborate with him that same year. In fact, Prokof'ev arrived here at a synthesis of the two tendencies that were debating in him: the barbaric and disintegrating one (of works such as the Scythian Suite) and the one that yearned for a classicism felt to be lost. The work was so successful that Prokof'ev created three symphonic suites from Romeo and Juliet, the second of which includes what is perhaps its most famous work, the Dance of the Knights.

Synopsis

Act I
It is Shakespeare’s era. The actors of the London Globe Theatre are preparing for the – maybe first – performance of Romeo and Juliet. The enthusiastic audience throngs into the theatre where the morning scene of the Verona marketplace appears gradually on the darkening stage.
Crowds gather the marketplace. A fight breaks out between the relatives and servants of the Capulet and Montague houses. Swords appear, and many are killed in the clash. The Prince of Verona puts an end to the fight.
Preparations for the ball are underway in the kitchen of the Capulet house. Juliet is playing with her nurse. The majestic Lady Capulet gives a present to her daughter and realises that she is not a child any more.
Guests arrive at the ball at the Capulets’. Romeo, Mercutio and Benvolio try to sneak in, but they find themselves in a sinister scene: Mab, queen of the fairies invites them to dance. At the ball Romeo and Juliet fall in love at first sight. Juliet meets Paris, whom her parents intend to be her husband, but calmly refuses his approach. Tybalt recognises the uninvited guests, which makes him furious, but Lord Capulet calms him down. Mercutio’s jokes, instead of relieving Tybalt’s wrath, offend his dignity. When the ball is over the guests leave, and Romeo climbs into the silent garden of the house, where he catches sight of Juliet dreaming on the balcony. The two young lovers happily find each other.

Act II
A festive crowd gathers on the main square in Verona: procession of the Virgin Mary, showmen and revelling people. Juliet’s nurse arrives “elegantly” with her young mistress’s message. Romeo follows the nurse to Friar Laurence’s chapel, where the priest marries the two young lovers.
On the marketplace Tybalt is looking for Mercutio to take a revenge for the joke of the previous night. After mutual insults and mocking they begin the swordfight. The master-fencer Tybalt lethally wounds Mercutio who is clowning throughout. He is acting even while dying, but in the last moment he curses both families. Romeo loses control after losing his friend, and kills Tybalt in his wrath. Because of the murder, the Prince exiles Romeo from Verona, but his friends help him flee.

Act III
Romeo takes refuge in Friar Laurence’s chapel where Juliet’s message finds him. After their nuptial night Romeo has to flee from the law and leave his wife. Juliet rejects his parents’ will and refuses to marry Paris. She has no choice but to ask for Friar Laurence’s help.
The friar suggests Juliet drinks a drug that will put her into a death-like sleep and wake her up at the right moment. Friar Laurence thinks this is the only way. On returning to her room Juliet seemingly agrees to marry Paris. When left alone, she drinks the drug, and her family finds her in bed unconscious the following morning.
A funeral march takes Juliet on her last journey to the crypt of the Capulet family. The parents and the nurse are broken by sorrow. After the mourners’ departure Romeo arrives and believes his lover to be dead. Seeing no other way out, he chooses to commit suicide. Friar Laurence arrives when Juliet is awakening. The friar realises that he is late and tries to help Juilet, but she – seeing her dead husband – escapes to death too, stabbing herself with the dagger.
The crypt is turned into a cosmic space, the bier rises in the light of the stars, and a multitude of Romeos and Juliets dance around the dead lovers. In the Globe Theatre, Shakespeare’s actors, including Romeo and Juliet, line up in perfect harmony, showing that the performance is over.

Program and cast

BALLET IN THREE ACTS

Music by Sergej Prokof’ev

Libretto by Sergej Prokof’ev and Sergej Radlov

Coreography by John Cranko

World première: 

Brno, National Theatre,  12/30/1938

Czech National Ballet

Artistic Director: Filip Barankiewicz

John Cranko choreography

Václav Zahradník conductor

Jane Bourne choreography and staging

Jürgen Rose sets and costumes

Jürgen Rose, Valentin Däumler lighting

Soloists and Ballet Company of the Prague National Theatre Ballet 

Orchestra Teatro Regio Torino 

Lecture-Concert: Wednesday 3 December at 6 pm - Piccolo Regio Puccini