Romeo and Juliet
Cast sheet
Friday 14 March 2025
|
7.30pm
Exceptional philanthropic support from Royal Ballet and Opera Principal Julia Rausing Trust
Generous philanthropic support from John Burns CBE and Susan Burns OBE, Jonathan Caplan, Philipp Freise, Kenneth and Susan Green, Alan and Caroline Howard, Doug and Ceri King, Stephen and Dina Lucas, Lindsay and Sarah Tomlinson, The Royal Opera House Endowment Fund and Francesca Storey-Harris in memory Of Judy Harris
The 2024/25 Royal Ballet Season generously supported by Aud Jebsen
The role of Juliet is supported by Richard Baker, Fiona and Simon Thomas
Production generously sponsored by Van Cleef & Arpels
Approximate timings
Choreography
Kenneth MacMillan
Music
Sergey Prokofiev
Conductor
Koen Kessels
Designer
Nicholas Georgiadis
Lighting designer
John B. Read
Rehearsal Director
Christopher Saunders
Staging and Artistic Supervisor for the MacMillan Estate
Laura Morera
Senior Répétiteurs
Gary Avis, Deirdre Chapman, Samantha Raine, Samira Saidi
Principal Coaching
Alexander Agadzhanov, Leanne Benjamin, Darcey Bussell, Stuart Cassidy, Alessandra Ferri, Edward Watson
Juliet
Fumi Kaneko
Romeo
Vadim Muntagirov
Mercutio
Francisco Serrano
Tybalt
Ryoichi Hirano
Benvolio
Giacomo Rovero
Paris
Lukas Bjørneboe Brændsrød
Lord Capulet
Bennet Gartside
Lady Capulet
Christina Arestis
Escalus Prince of Verona
Harris Bell
Rosaline
Annette Buvoli
Nurse
Olivia Cowley
Friar Laurence
Thomas Whitehead
Lord Montague
Thomas Whitehead
Lady Montague
Lara Turk
Juliet’s Friends
Sophie Allnatt, Ashley Dean, Bomin Kim, Chisato Katsura, Leticia Stock, Charlotte Tonkinson
Three Harlots
Itziar Mendizabal, Isabel Lubach, Leticia Dias
Mandolin Dancers
Daichi Ikarashi, Liam Boswell, Harry Churches, Téo Dubreuil, Joshua Junker, Taisuke Nakao
Ballroom Guests and Townspeople
Artists of The Royal Ballet
Actors
Kian Berry, Martial Blaise, Jean-Pierre Blanchard, Maddie Brennan, Lucien Campbell, Angelo Coassin, Peter Cooney, Jordan Cork, Ruth Cross, Rain de Rye Barrett, Chris Edgerley, Kachaan Ellis, Simon Jaymes, Bless Klepcharek, Damien Lee Stirk, Clare Lumley, Fiona Marshall, Kim Mendez, Laurence Pasqualini, Alejandro Postigo, Georgia Reid-Hamilton, Barbara Rhodes, Sebastian Rose, Julia Ruiz Fernandez, Olga Sabadoch, Jack Sears, Suleiman Suleiman, Daniel Swan, Victoria Taylor, Peter Taylor, Jeremy Wallis, Tim Webster
Orchestra
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Concert Master
Sergey Levitin
Director
Kevin O’Hare CBE
Music Director
Koen Kessels
Resident Choreographer
Sir Wayne McGregor CBE
Artistic Associate
Christopher Wheeldon OBE
Administrative Director
Heather Baxter
Rehearsal Director
Christopher Saunders
Clinical Director Ballet Healthcare
Shane Kelly
Synopsis
The Capulets and Montagues are sworn enemies. A fight breaks out in the market place led by Romeo Montague and his ...
The Capulets and Montagues are sworn enemies. A fight breaks out in the market place led by Romeo Montague and his friends Mercutio and Benvolio against Tybalt, Lord Capulet’s nephew, and other members of the Capulet house. The Prince of Verona commands the families to end their feud. Lord and Lady Capulet introduce their daughter Juliet to Paris, a nobleman they intend her to marry. In disguise, Romeo, Mercutio and Benvolio sneak into a ball at the Capulets’ house. Romeo and Juliet are taken with each other. Later, when Juliet is on her balcony, Romeo appears below and they profess their love.
Juliet’s nurse delivers a letter to Romeo in which Juliet says she will be his wife. The lovers are secretly married by Friar Laurence. In the market place, Tybalt fights Mercutio and kills him. Romeo avenges the death of his friend and is punished with immediate exile from Verona.
Secretly, Romeo has been with Juliet through the night. In the morning, Romeo embraces Juliet and escapes as her parents enter with Paris. Juliet refuses to marry Paris, and her parents threaten to disown her. Juliet rushes to beg Friar Laurence’s help. He gives her a potion that will make her fall temporarily into a deathlike sleep. Juliet agrees to marry Paris but the next morning her parents find her apparently lifeless. Romeo, who has not received the Friar’s warning message about the subterfuge, returns to Verona at the news of Juliet’s death. In the Capulet tomb, he believes Juliet to be dead and drinks poison. Juliet awakes, finds Romeo dead, and stabs herself.
Language
Further information
Born in Kiev, she trained at the Pisarev Ballet School, graduating in 2000. She was a member of Donetsk Ballet, 2000–02, before joining Kiev Opera Ballet as a principal. She joined Berlin State Ballet in 2005 as a demi-soloist, promoted to principal, 2007. Her roles in Berlin have included Malakhov’s Cinderella and Princess Aurora, Olga, Marie (Bart’s Nutcracker), Schaufuss’s La Sylphide and Cranko’s Juliet. She has appeared as a guest artist around the world, including performances in Florence, Munich, Moscow, Rome and St Petersburg. Her awards include first prizes at international ballet competitions in Kiev (2002), Vienna and Perm (2004) and Helsinki and Nagoya (2005), the Deutsche Tanzpreis ‘Zukunft’ (2010), the Berlin Chamber Dancer Kammertanzerin (2024). Since 2013 her roles as Guest Artist with the Company have included Giselle, Juliet, Odette/Odile, Kitri, Sugar Plum Fairy, Young Girl (Two Pigeons) and Tchaikovsky pas de deux.
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