Romeo & Juliet

Pacy, streamlined, and stripped of the frequently irritating nurse, Scottish Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet provides an urgent and affecting retelling of the great love story. Dramaturg Willem Bruls and choreographer Krzysztof Pastor radically alter the plot, updating the setting to 20th Century Italy and splitting the action between three decades.

The lovers (Erik Cavallari and Sophie Martin) first meet amid the looming Fascist edifices of the '30s, with the Capulets in the garb of Mussolini’s Blackshirts. Later, Mercutio (a dashing Paul Liburd) and Tybalt (Tama Barry) duel in the Fellini streetscapes of the '50s, while the final act reaches the '90s, with disconcerting projections of Silvio Berlusconi’s mouth intermittently appearing above the doomed protagonists. The paring down of the action works to produce a powerful narrative drive, and the modernised setting heightens the dramatic possibilities of such a well-worn plot; there is a real menace in the jack-booted Tybalt, while Owen Thorne’s imperious Capulet carries the lethal authority of a vindictive Gauleiter.

Pastor’s choreography is successful; the contrast between the sinuous intimacy of Romeo and Juliet and the jagged, stylised movement of the feuding establishment strongly communicates the story’s central message; the destructive, ossifying effect of hate. The dancing, especially from the principals and an impish, authority-mocking Liburd as Mercutio, is excellent.

The main problem with the production is that, having cut down the piece so heavily, Pastor and Bruls attempt to overload it with too much socio-historical significance. The '30s background works well, but shifting the focus onto later decades serves only as a distraction, and defuses the narrative tension. Similarly, the use of projected historical footage is awkward, the considerable pathos created through the deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt is not accentuated but diminished by its juxtaposition with archive film of street violence. The sight of real blood and corpses overwhelms the delicate illusion of the drama on stage. On the whole however, the piece makes for an entertaining evening, and a refreshing revision of the ancient tale.