Ballet Cymru
Choreographers Darius James & Amy Doughty
Costumes by Georg Meyer-Weil
Poole Lighthouse Theatre
Wednesday 12th June 2024, 19.45
Music by Serge Prokofiev
Performed by Sinfonia Cymru
Intriguing, It says there’s a Welsh twist to the story. I’ll avoid jokes about 20 mph speed limits then. Uh, oh, too late.
This is on an extensive tour of Wales and England.
Serge Prokofiev wrote the music in 1935 and revised it in 1940. The current version was arranged in 2013 with is when it was recorded. The music is magnificent, and this is a beautiful reduced scale recording, with great dynamism. They were selling T-shirts, tote bags and notebooks, I’d suggest adding soundtrack CDs to the merc table. I’d’ve bought one. Has it ever been released? It’s not on amazon! I just tried.
For a ballet, the narrative is very direct, and much is dictated by the musical score which is extremely precise on certain actions and endings. It means death scenes are long to get to the ending. I enjoyed one of the few reviews (South Wales Argus):
While there was no dialogue in Romeo a Juliet the tragic love story was brought to life through the art of motion. While my sister wasn’t familiar with Romeo and Juliet she was able to follow the plot and sat in captivated awe throughout the performance.
Leah Powell, 3 June 2024 South Wales Argus
I’m really glad they enjoyed it, though surprised they expected dialogue in a ballet, and I honestly thought everyone knew the story. Plot spoiler: they die at the end.
The projection is its major selling point. No, it’s not anywhere near as realistic as the poster image, but it shifts from abstract, to impressionistic (the church) and realistic. The scene where the nurse hands Romeo the letter from Juliet has a projected concrete pedestrian underpass, the sort you see in abandoned 1960s shopping centres. In fact, for a Welsh twist my last visit to Tredegar (my mum’s home town) came to mind where we watched schoolkids coming through the boarded up shopping centre and opined, they will be gone from here as soon as they leave school.
Thank goodness we are a long way from the Royal Ballet uniformly sized dancers of fifty years ago. The differences in height and build were a major plus, with such a tall Tybalt (James Knott) and Mercutio (Mika George Evans) – both outstanding too. Then Gwenllian Davies as Juliet was small, Kamal Singh as Paris was even smaller, but he could still do all the lifts. Robbie Moorcroft as Capulet and Isobel Holland as Lady Capulet were large for ballet- and totally superb too. Jakob Myers was Romeo, and a perfect Romeo too.
We loved it. Most memorable scenes were the two Mercutio / Tybalt fights … you could hear the swords clang metallically when they were dropped on stage too … and the final scene where Romeo dances holding the dead and totally limp Juliet. How did she do that?
We thought the size of the audience disappointing. It’s the sort of thing which in Poole is usually packed with kids from ballet classes. Didn’t they try direct group sales? Kids need to see a classic ballet done so well, and also with a modern feel. How many ballets have a credit for “clogging director?” However, it is right in the middle of the exam season. It’s a shame because they deserved a larger audience, and we were thrilled to be there.
The programme? I’d have liked more even though it’s limited in extent because half has to be in Welsh.
Itinerary for the next few weeks:
If you’re anywhere near, it’s a first rate professional ballet.
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