For all Shakespeare’s poetry, its two houses alike in
dignity and its tragic love story, Romeo
and Juliet is ultimately a story of teenage love and rebellion. So what
better way of presenting it on stage than through pop music?
It’s not quite opera, but ballet certainly has something of
a stuffy reputation. This production of Romeo
and Juliet, from director Rasta Thomas, aims to entice a new, younger
audience to the ballet with this strange concoction of classical and pop musical
styles. For the most part it works, creating something fresh and different. The
classical music choices are a little hackneyed (how many times is Vivaldi’s Four Seasons used in everything?), but
the next minute the cast dance to the likes of Lady Gaga, Usher, LMFAO and The
Police. Though jarring and confusing, hearing Prokofiev rubbing shoulders with
Swedish House Mafia eventually proves enjoyable and is certain to please a younger
audience.
Now, my hips don’t lie, but I’m definitely no ballet dancer.
From my limited experience though, the dancers were outstanding. As with the
music, the dance blurs the line between classical ballet and modern
contemporary to suit each song, incorporating elements of gymnastics and
hip-hop too. This is especially impressive from the male dancers, who flip and
pirouette across the stage in a masculine display: Preston Swovelin has some
spectacular moments as Romeo, whilst Ryan Carlson excels as a boxing, muscular
Tybalt. With only two women in the cast, Adrienne Canterna undoubtedly stands
out, but as both Juliet and choreographer of the production, it’s telling that
she has plenty of solo moments in the spotlight.
However, this is equally a piece of storytelling and it’s
here the production falters. It is not enough to rely on the presumption that
the audience are familiar with the plot – it has been severely cut here and
many characters are absent. What’s mainly missing is a sense of danger, even
despite Carlson’s manly posturing as Tybalt; for the most part this is just a
frothy love story. Visually, the costumes are an odd mix too and the
projections add little to the narrative beyond the already clever choreography that's full of storytelling and symbolism.
Mostly, it all feels a little disjointed: dance, applause, rinse repeat. With
each dance lasting around two minutes, the show overall consists of short fragments
that don’t flow seamlessly into a cohesive whole.
Individually, though, there are some beautiful, tender and
touching moments, including Juliet’s exuberant joy dancing to Katy Perry’s “Teenage
Dream”, and a love duet to Desree’s “Kissing You” (indebted, of course, to the
1996 Baz Luhrmann film). Amongst all the youthful fun, there is some unexpected
poignancy.
3/5
Watch: Romeo and
Juliet runs at the Peacock Theatre, Sadler’s Wells until 29th
March.
Photos: Irina Chira