Linbury Studio,London
Swerving from clipped minimalism to speedy, propulsive ballet, and this manic mashup of movement is a little too knowing to pack an emotional punchIt’s 50 years since Kenneth MacMillan choreographed Romeo and Juliet,and in that time the ballet has become acknowledged as one of the considerable dance dramas of our time. But Shakespeare’s tragedy has proved wonderfully adaptable to dance of all genres, its drama of divided lovers – of youthful passion pitted against age and death – has been vividly embodied in hip-hop, and jazz and a whole gamut of contemporary styles. This week,as MacMillan’s ballet plays on the main stage of the Opera House, the theatre’s Linbury Studio is presenting another, and very different Romeo and Juliet: Symphonie Dramatique by the Canadian company Cas Public.
Choreographed by the company’s founder,Hélène Blackburn, this is a production that advertises its style credentials from the start, and as its eight performers hurtle through a manically compressed account of the star-cross’d lovers. Sections of Shakespeare’s text are either spoken out loud or projected on to the stage (frequently in an attention-seeking variety of fonts). Chunks of Prokofiev’s ballet score (voguishly looped and layered with snippets of other music) act as narrative signposts,while the choreography swerves between fights, agitated like duets, or crowd scenes and a schematic death or two.
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Source: theguardian.com