the other Romeo & Juliet - Symphonie Dramatique

[Quintus]

I booked this after leaving the main RB R&J booking too late and then being horrified at the pricing, and so I am going tonight...  Canadian company Cas Public with an 'alternative take'.  Not too sure what to expect - anybody else going better prepared?

[Ian Macmillan]

The ROH page on this is here:

 

http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/symphonie-dramatique-by-helene-blackburn?gclid=CKPN58GOjcgCFSIOwwodBY8DtA

 

I'm sure that it should prove interesting.  Having seen Cathy Marston's J&R in Bern back in 2009, it's perfectly possible to tell the story with a small cast - 13, in her case, including a Mercutia rather than Mercutio.

 

You Tube excerpts can be found on Google.

[Terpsichore]

Having seen Cathy Marston's J&R in Bern back in 2009, it's perfectly possible to tell the story with a small cast - 13, in her case, including a Mercutia rather than Mercutio.

 

 

Ballet Cymru did it with even fewer. They have only 9 dancers on their payroll.

 

I think I reviewed it somewhere on this forum and if it's not there it is in my blog,   They called it Romeo a Juliet and had an extra character called Cerys instead of the nurse.  I thought it was jolly good.

[trog]

Ballet Cymru actually have done two different R&Js. The first one (which I prefer) had ladders as the set and these became the balcony, the bed, Father Lawerence's cell, etc. This one had a backdrop which looked like a tie-dyed cloth. From memory, it didn't use the Prokofiev score. The new one, has a proper balcony, a proper bed and they use projected sets. It also uses the familiar score. The company have only ever had a handful of dancers.

 

My favourite R&J is http://www.rnzb.org.nz/about/repertoire/romeo-juliet/

[Melody]

I'd love to see an R&J choreographed to the Berlioz score, although I know it's a problem with sheer numbers when you're working with a choral piece rather than just an orchestral one.

[Terpsichore]

Ballet Cymru actually have done two different R&Js. The first one (which I prefer) had ladders as the set and these became the balcony, the bed, Father Lawerence's cell, etc. This one had a backdrop which looked like a tie-dyed cloth. From memory, it didn't use the Prokofiev score. The new one, has a proper balcony, a proper bed and they use projected sets. It also uses the familiar score. The company have only ever had a handful of dancers.

 

My favourite R&J is http://www.rnzb.org.nz/about/repertoire/romeo-juliet/

 

Thanks for the info about the other Ballet Cymru Romeo and Juliet.

 

I quite liked the Mariinsky's when I saw it at Covent Garden last year with Xander Parish in the lead.   

 

Another good one was ENB's in the round in the Albert Hall, I saw it with Vogel and Cojocaru.

[Quintus]

Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear.  Twas not for me at all.  All credit to the dancers for a highly aerobic 55 minutes and executing a lengthy series of apparently random movements, which must be hell to learn, but for me the choreography had no connection either to the music or to the text.  Imagine Adrian Mole spending an evening watching La La La Human Steps and Wayne McGregor videos then deciding to have a stab at it. The 20-somethings in the audience were mostly appreciative, others looked bemused.

[stucha]

I'd love to see an R&J choreographed to the Berlioz score, although I know it's a problem with sheer numbers when you're working with a choral piece rather than just an orchestral one.

 

There is such a version choreographed by Sasha Waltz for the POB. 

It was the subject of a cinema broadcast last year. 

And I think you may find clips like this one

 

 

Here is a link to a review which gives an idea of it

 

http://dancetabs.com/2012/05/paris-opera-ballet-romeo-and-juliet-paris/

Edited September 24, 2015 by stucha

[Quintus]

...back to the original subject of this thread, which is Symphonie Dramatique; I woke up at 4am increasingly irritated by this production.  It's not the style of dancing; for example I love LLLHS's Amelia. Rather it is the the complete disconnection of the choreography from the doomed love story it purpose to represent, and the absence of any emotion or lyricism.  I also object to 'business'. There was  deal of dragging benches across the stage for no apparent reason, and some thrice repeated routine of barking/screeching into a lowered microphone. Another choreographic trope was slapping the face with a forearm flipped up through 90 degrees. Why?  It reminded me f nothing more than performing seals. Indeed had this production been called Sammy The Seal Escapes From the Circus, I would have been able to make some sense of it and would doubtless now be happily asleep.

[trog]

I'd love to see an R&J choreographed to the Berlioz score, although I know it's a problem with sheer numbers when you're working with a choral piece rather than just an orchestral one.

I checked though my old programs last night and Ballet Cymru's "ladders" R&J used the Berloz score. It was on CD, of course.

[zxDaveM]

Foteini Christofilopoulou was at the photo call rehearsal - here are a few photos:
 
 
 
 

Cas Public
© Foteini Christofilopoulou. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr
 
 


Marc-André Poliquin, Cai Glover, Alexandre Carlos, Nicholas Bellefleur, Mickaël Spinnhirny
© Foteini Christofilopoulou. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr
 
 
 
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Set from DanceTabs: Cas Public - Symphonie Dramatique
Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr
By kind permission of the Royal Opera House