Scottish Ballet: Romeo and Juliet at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre


Krystof Pastor, resident choreographer with Dutch National Ballet, has to be applauded for attempting an abstract version of the giant of dance dramas Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, delivering a spectacle more symphonic poem than the usual bustle of the piazza and clash of rapier. The Polish choreographer has teamed up with dramaturge Willem Bruls and designer Tatyana Van Walsum to produce an updated elegant staging dressed in three periods of monochromatic costume with projected newsreels to match. A classy photograph of an Italian street scene provides the backdrop but the projections add little − especially, bizarrely, a close-up of the mouth of Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi − except to call attention to the time shift through 30s, 50s, to the present day, providing visual representation of the timeless quality of the story of Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers that the creative team are keen to highlight.

Pastor’s new production for the exceptionally talented Scottish Ballet is a fine and stylish performance that for the most part substitutes sweeps of ensemble dance for gesticulating crowds and, despite much stagy walking on and off by black-shirted Capulets, also gets the bad guys dancing. Jarkko Lehmus’ Capulet is superbly authoritative and angular but Pastor has erased Juliet’s dad’s party spirit, fudging him somewhat into just another Tybalt − splendidly danced by Tama Barry − rather than the patriarch that puts the party pooper in his place. Would-be husband Paris is substituted by a whole host of suitors, and with the nurse cut, Juliet is on her own without a confidant and it is a sympathetic and therefore less commanding mother, danced by Limor Ziv, who deals with Juliet’s transition from child to adult. Tensions are lessened with no Montague to confront Capulet or Head of State to banish Romeo after Tybalt’s death and demand an end to the violent feuding − including some good fight moves. It’s up to Friar Laurence − Oliver Rydout − to come between the families. But he has to do this and be confidential friend of Romeo.

Erik Cavallari plays a handsome Romeo but with no Rosaline for pre-Juliet love interest and therefore no immediate need to gatecrash the Capulet ball his character lacks urgency. Paul Liburd’s Mercutio is deliciously mischievous but not lustful and again Romeo struggles without a bawdy foil for contrast. Sophie Martin has all the potential for a radiant Juliet but Pastor’s idealism fails in the all important intimate scenes of Acts Two and Three to reveal the full and essential depth of love the choreographer has to have for his Juliet.


Michael Scott, Dance Expression Magazine 2008