Back to the gorgeous Teatro Real, this time off to the ballet (I wrote about last month's trip to the opera here).
The Compañia Nacional de Danza (the Spanish National Dance Company) were staging a modern version of Romeo y Julieta (Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet).
From the moment the curtain was raised, the action was fast-paced, cleverly thought-out and beautifully staged.
A narrator character, a huge ballet dancer clad in black robes, spoke the opening prologue aloud to a rapt audience, before the orchestra struck up the opening bars and he began to introduce the characters, positioning the bodies of the Capulets and Montagues as if directing every movement.
I later read that he was intended to be a development of the Queen Mab character from Mercutio's monologue, simultaneously playing the Queen of Dreams, fate and death. It was a beautiful construction which really worked, holding the ballet together with a dark coherence and hurried fate.
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| The narrator supports and manipulates Juliet as she listens to the priest Photo sourced here (Javier del Real) |
With a stripped-back set and a muted colour palate of greys and blacks, only Juliet's dress and Mercutio's shirt providing splashes of red, the staging was stunning.
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| The ballroom scene Photo sourced here (Javier del Real) |
The choreography incorporated both classical and modern ballet with an occasional Spanish twist. Mercutio, having crouched down into the orchestra pit and winked a cheeky "venga, música maestro" at the conductor, led the ensemble in a vibrant flamenco in Act Two, accompanied by a flowing Spanish guitar version of Prokofiev's score.
One of the best ballets I have seen, by far.
