You remember what I said last time about Dance Theatre.. about not liking it and it not being ‘Dance’ to me.. Yeh.. I take it all back, I was wrong. Matthew Bourne’s Romeo & Juliet at Sadlers Wells turned me around completely. This is Dance theatre done right. I was expecting this show to impress and it did not disappoint. Superb. – Matthew Bourne’s Romeo & Juliet did not disappoint. Billed as Bourne’s “Smartest, Sexiest” show, there is a lot to uncover here. Let’s get into it.

Arriving with moments to spare, I really would have kicked myself if I had missed this one. I’ve been looking forward to this for many months at this point and so I headed in, grabbed a printed program and took to my seat. I was in B29. Left hand side, end-row seat, four rows from the stage. My viewpoint with the stage was slightly higher than eye-line, close enough to see amazing footwork and truthful expressions of heartfelt emotion upon each dancer’s face. The three rows in front of me also had a superb look down into the orchestra pit where they could see a dedicated selection of musicians playing the Prokofiev score live. From Violins, viola and cello to Bass, Flute and Clarinets/Saxophones. Tuba, Harp & Piano, Guitar/Mandolin and Percussion, everything that was needed was represented within the orchestra pit by the New Adventures Orchestra. The Prokofiev score for Romeo & Juliet is undoubtedly one of the more well-known and best-loved ballet scores, and it was adapted for the stage. It is from this that long-time Bourne collaborator Terry Davis started to re-create the score for a smaller chamber orchestra of fifteen players. Davies was respectful to the original Prokofiev orchestration and was clear from the outset that this was not to be a reduction of the orchestra but a re-imagination of the orchestration from the ground up. From where I was sat, I could see the conductor doing his thing but my vision was transfixed on the talent showcased on the stage.

Bourne’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic star-crossed love tragedy sets the scene within a near-future ‘Verona Institute’, a vision of either a prison or a mental institution were those who don’t quite fit with societies representation of ‘normal’ go to live out their days. The entire performance takes place using the same set, dressed differently for different scenes and acts within the show. Amazingly however, the entire set and stage is used as dancers move around it, within it and over the top of it. Bourne’s Direction and Choreography making sure to make use of the entire space available. The set was made up of a semi-circular wall tiled from floor to ceiling in creamy-white medical / prison style tiles with cell-door style bars and an outer chain-link fence complete with doors, alarm-bells and warning lights. Across the top of the wall was a gantry with stairs on both sides as well as dual rear stairs that disappeared down behind the back of the wall. The walled section had three entrances and exits to its backstage area, two smaller and one central larger opening. On either side of the two side entrances / exits were ladders which aided quicker ways up and down than the stairs. These were utilised perhaps more than you might think throughout the performance. As for set-dressing, the walled section stayed the same all the way through the performance. Some additional props were used in front of it such as Beds, tables and chairs. The props were all brought on and off the stage by the dancers as part of their choreography. This meant there was no disconnect from the storyline being told except at natural endpoints such as the interval.

What was changed throughout was the lighting. Designer Paule Constable, who is an Associate Artist of the New Adventures company did a fantastic job of lighting the stage for the different scenes and acts within the performance. Elements of flying were used to bring in / out down-lighting which added tension and atmosphere throughout and a huge ‘chandelier’ style light was flown to just above the heads of the performers for scenes such as the Ball. Through the small hole in the center of this amazing set-piece came a disco ball. This provided the intimate effects used throughout scenes were Romeo & Juliet were sharing their first dance together. This added light moments of comedy as its ‘direction’ was provided by Friar Laurence / Rev. Bernadette Laurence in Bourne’s adaptation.

Let’s talk about the amazing cast that makes up Bourne’s New Adventures and continues to delight as they perform under his Direction & Choreography. The male & female leads were of course Romeo & Juliet and during the performance that I saw on Thursday 3rd August 2023 were Paris Fitzpatrick as Romeo and Monique Jonas as Juliet. Paris joined New Adventures in 2017 after receiving his training from Tring Park School for the Performing Arts and has been a cast member of Cinderella, The Midnight Bell, The Car Man and Sleeping Beauty. He also played Romeo in the original 2019 production. Paris was also a member of BalletBoyz for their Deluxe tour in 2022. Paris brought the inexperience of youth to the roll of Romeo as he is introduced as the Son of a wealthy political candidate and his wife and his ‘infliction’ is shown through the medium of dance upon his admission. From there he is ‘integrated’ into the institute by the other boys who in time become friends Balthasar, Benvolio and Tybalt. Monique Jonas is a graduate of Rambert School and joined New Adventures in 2019. She has performed in Nutcracker! and The Car Man under the direction of Bourne before becoming Magdalen in Romeo and Juliet in the original 2019 production. Previously she has been a part of the Richard Alston Dance Company as well as Director of Jona Dance, her own company pioneering Ballet Black and also in commercial work for artists including Kylie Minogue, Jamie Cullum and Paloma Faith to name but a few. Monique brought pure beauty to the stage as she took on the role of Juliet and she played it with such distinct emotion expressed naturally through Dance. No exaggeration required.

I would be foolish not to mention some other dancers who I thought played outstanding parts that helped to tell the story and move it along in places. Jackson Fisch, who was trained at the Australian Ballet School and played Balthasar in the performance that I saw at Sadlers Wells but he has also been playing Romeo in recent performances too. Kurumi Kamayachi who is a graduate of the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, I think we will be seeing her in a lot of Dance performances over the next few years. Finally Eleanor McGrath who is another graduate of the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, who played Faith in the production I saw. I know this name, I’ve seen her perform in something else I have seen over these past two years of viewing amazing Dance performances. I am sure of it.

I have to talk for a moment about one particular outstanding scene within the show. The first dance shared between Romeo and Juliet. It starts, as young-love most often does (I imagine) (as Bourne says himself in answer to a question about how he went about capturing the first-love tone of Romeo and Juliet)… “it’s awkward, uninhibited.. Full of excitement, exploration and discovery. They can’t keep their hands off each other as they fumble towards their first kiss; and, rather than the usual sweet peck on the cheek or lips, we set ourselves the choreographically challenging task of creating the longest ever continuous kiss in dance history! Locked in a moment that neither of them wants to end – we hope that we have captured that youthful memory for everyone in our audiences too”. This was a visceral moment to witness. When their lips locked together they went from standing up facing each other to being on the ground, rotating 180 degrees, rolling over and over and over then standing and moving over and across some of the set pieces including a bed with feet traveling over the wall. Never wanting that moment to end. There, in that moment, you felt a part of it. You could feel the love oozing from the stage. By far the most outstanding part, choreographically or not of the entire performance.

My faith in Dance Theatre.. restored.. This is what it can be and this is what it should be, always. Which is why I really don’t understand how Kate Prince’s Message in a Bottle hit so wrongly last time out. Kate herself being an Associate Artists of Sadlers Wells too. – But anyway.. Romeo and Juliet runs at Sadlers Wells till early September 2023, you have no excuses. Go see this performance. Disappointment will be nowhere near what you experience. I guarantee it.