Sir Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures has brought its groundbreaking Romeo and Juliet to Tokyo. It was its first visit in five years, and it stunned the audience with its vivid, eloquent portrayal of the star-crossed lovers, and the problems that surround the young characters in this work. His storytelling, without words, is magical.
Set in Verona Institute, a stark white building with iron bars (marvellously designed by Lez Brotherston), it could be an asylum or correction facility for young people who do not fit into society or meet their parents’ expectations. They are deprived of their freedom, forced to do their daily routine exercises, to take drugs to subdue them and are forbidden to fall in love. Juliet has been sexually harassed by the violent guard, Tybalt, and Romeo is sent to this facility by his politician parents who want to get rid of their son, an embarrassment to them.
Bourne’s aim was to depict the problems and pain of the young people of today: violence, harassment, homophobia, and not being loved by their parents. There are scenes that are almost too painful to watch such as Juliet being assaulted; the hatred that Tybalt shows for the male couple, Mercutio and Balthazar, and the final tragedy. Yet at the same time, Bourne cleverly shows the celebration of the power and passion of young love, through dance. The balcony scene with Juliet and Romeo shows the clumsiness and straightforward longing of the lovers encountering their first love. They roll on the floor together, lifting each other (Juliet is more powerful than Romeo) carrying each other on their backs, and finally having the long kiss, moving around on the balcony with their lips locked, until they are breathless.
As written in the original Shakespeare play, Mercutio dies tragically and Tybalt also follows his fate, but although Tybalt is brutal, he is depicted as a tormented and traumatised person, who was possibly abused in his childhood and deprived of love. Adam Galbraith gave a brilliant portrayal of this multi-layered person on the opening night. In the aftermath of Mercutio’s death, there is a heartbreaking and touching solo danced by his lover Balthazar, which was sensitively and emotionally danced by Jackson Fisch, leaving an unforgettable impression.
Monique Jonas’s Juliet is vulnerable and powerful at the same time. She has the rare gift of expressing her fragile emotions through movement as well as when she is not dancing. There is an homage to the MacMillan version when Juliet sits still on her bed and recalls her memories of the kiss she had on the balcony. The dancers reprise this choreography of the balcony pas de deux, one of the most beautiful moments of this production and we could see what she was feeling, how she longs to meet her Romeo, Paris Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick, who created the role in 2019, is the ideal Romeo for this production. An innocent young boy who has not been loved by his parents and is in desperate need of care and love, finds his perfect match in Juliet. He feels that he has finally found his purpose in life. We can see that Juliet has also found genuine love in Romeo’s unsullied mind and his sensitivity.