Last revived nearly ten years ago at London’s Royal Festival Hall, English National Ballet (ENB) is touring the UK with Rudolf Nureyev’s Romeo and Juliet. It’s a hefty production packed with demanding central roles, intricate crowd scenes and a company for whom many will not have danced it before. ENB is in the fortunate position of securing guest principals for the leading roles in London; Hugo Marchand from Paris Opera Ballet and Ksenia Ovsyanick formerly of Staatsballett Berlin. The result is a rather busy rotation of Romeos and Juliets making their debuts at other venues, so it seemed only right to travel up to Manchester to take a look.
Friday evening at The Palace Theatre saw double debuts for first soloists Lorenzo Trossello and Ivana Bueno, both of whom coped well with the individual challenges. Together, their chemistry simmered, and with more time to develop, I would like to see them both let go a little more, especially in the drama of Act 3.
Trossello’s Romeo is the nice guy of the male trio. His opening solo is neat and carefully placed. He grows in confidence with the help of Gustavo Carvalho’s entertaining Mercutio and Zai Calliste’s regal Benvolio. Carvalho is a recent acquisition from Ballett am Rhein and what a talent! He exuded cheeky charm in the rowdy crowd scenes and showed skilful timing in the fatal swordfight. Calliste’s Benvolio enhanced the group further, channelling energy and elegance. Still an artist within the company ranks, Calliste is inherently watchable, delivering bravado early on but level headed when events turn serious.
Elsewhere, Jose María Lorca Menchón gives us a darkly brooding Tybalt, deeply protective of his cousin, while Anna Nevzorova brings a classy gravitas as Lady Capulet. Bueno’s Juliet is initially a wide-eyed girl, who matures quickly upon meeting Romeo. The choreography sits easily on her. Not skittish or easily led, she exhibits a sense of control throughout her journey from playful girlhood to the torment and distress that follows. We meet her among a gaggle of friends dressed in rose pink, unwilling and uninterested in Skyler Martin’s rather distinguished Paris. Later in the ball scene, her solo is light and effervescent, she is every inch the lovestruck teenager and there is a breezy assurance to every step.
To the all-important Act 1 pas de deux, the choreography demands immaculate timing for the catches and lifts which are delivered tenderly. Bueno is wonderfully expressive, her love for Romeo seeming hopeful and wistful, while Trossello partners her delicately, he wears his affection for her subtly, but sincerely. Everything flows smoothly, but the connection remains endearing rather than passionate.
By the time we’re in the Capulet crypt, Prokofiev’s score has darkened to one heavy with dread. As Bueno awakes and discovers Romeo, her silent scream is brutally moving. She is fully living the nightmare now. Nureyev’s conclusion signifies a reconciliation between the two families who rush to embrace each other in an especially poignant final image.
So ingrained is the MacMillan production, Nureyev’s retelling offers some wonderful additions that provide visual clarity. When Friar Lawrence (James Streeter) explains his plan to Juliet in Act 3, we see them on one side of the stage while, on the other, the sleeping-potion plot unfolds in a dreamlike vignette. In Act 2, Mercutio’s friends initially mistake his injury for another joke, delaying the horror of his death. These vivid details give an additional dramatic texture beyond the familiar central romance.
I was particularly impressed with the crowd scenes set to Prokofiev’s swaggering and lively score. The stage is often busy with warring Capulets and Montagues but there was also always a mini soap opera to watch in the background; couples flirting, arguing and fussing market stall vendors all showing deep commitment to portraying this slice of Verona.
Together with the boisterous set pieces and the high jinks flirtations with Rosaline (Minju Kang), the company appeared to be having a great time with it all. Verona is further brought to life through Ezio Frigerio’s sets, richly evocative of Renaissance Italy, with imposing, towering columns, and a town square that bustles with action. It’s a world that feels lived in, rather than simply a backdrop for the action. Franca Squarciapino’s lavish costumes of contrasting reds and greens for the two families are suitably opulent and further enable the flow of the narrative.
Nureyev’s Romeo and Juliet tells its story with clarity and the full company relishes its endless physicality and sword-wielding demands. Despite some minor cuts, the crowd scenes still fizz with intent. Bueno and Trossello are technically untroubled and possess all the right dramatic instincts in a promising partnership. Interpretations will vary with each cast, but tour audiences can’t fail to be absorbed by the lucid and fully-realised storytelling on offer.
