Royal Ballet brings new life to Romeo and Juliet – 60 years on from its first performance

Matthew Ball and Yasmine Naghdi’s heartfelt lead performances reimagine Kenneth MacMillan’s love at first sight classic

Matthew Ball as Romeo and Yasmine Naghdi as Juliet in the Royal Ballet's ‘Romeo and Juliet’ (Andrej Uspenski)

Sixty years old, and still fresh: in its anniversary year, The Royal Ballet’s production of Romeo and Juliet is ardently danced. With its feuding families and star-crossed lovers, the story sings out, sweeping from passion to heartbreak.

In 1965, when Kenneth MacMillan created this Romeo, he was following the worldwide success of the Bolshoi Ballet production – an epic, grand-scale approach that had wowed the West in 1956. But he also responded to his own era, the youth-focused theatre and culture of the time.

His Juliet is a rebellious teenager: when her family pressure her to make an arranged marriage, she jumps back into bed and pulls the covers over her head. As the tragedy darkens, MacMillan’s steps became more raw and blunt. Trapped and alone, Juliet sits on the end of her bed, staring into space as Prokofiev’s music surges around her. And in the tomb scene, Romeo half-drags her lifeless body through the steps from their love duet, clumsy and desperate in grief.

Matthew Ball as Romeo and Yasmine Naghdi as Juliet in the Royal Ballet's 'Romeo and Juliet' (Andrej Uspenski)

A huge hit from the beginning, the production has been restaged by companies across the world. Generations of dancers have excelled in it; one of MacMillan’s strengths was the freedom he gave dancers to find their own way.

On this year’s opening night, Yasmine Naghdi’s Juliet and Matthew Ball’s Romeo react very differently to love at first sight. She’s giddy with it, joy radiating out through her long limbs. He’s more flustered, knowing the risks but still carried away. It brings a lovely edge to their early duets, as his self-awareness gets caught up in her glowing certainty.

Bennet Gartside as Friar Laurence in the Royal Ballet's ‘Romeo and Juliet’ (Andrej Uspenski)

Naghdi sharpens her dancing in later scenes. Saying farewell in the bedroom duet, she twists in Ball’s arms, in a surge of panicked energy. Rejecting the arranged marriage, she’s suddenly all elbows. She and Ball are desolate in the tomb scene, lost and alone in grief.

At this revival, the whole production comes up bright and strong. On an off night, MacMillan’s crowd scenes can drag; here, they’re full of force and bustle, as townsfolk get caught up in the noble families’ quarrel. Joseph Sissens is a tight-wound Mercutio, with an aggressive edge to his mocking spins and jumps: those steps are sharp enough to cut. There’s an easy camaraderie between Ball, Sissens, and Leo Dixon’s Benvolio, while Ryoichi Hirano’s Tybalt has a mean streak, always ready to spill into violence. Throughout, this Romeo is both thoughtful and heartfelt.

‘Romeo and Juliet’ is at the Royal Opera House until 26 May