Romeo and Julia

‘My only love sprung from my only hate.’ The story of the age-old feud between two families that renders the love between Romeo and Juliet impossible is etched in the collective memory. The Spanish choreographer Marcos Morau depicts the timeless tragedy as a parable, dispensing with the anecdotal. He places them in a dark world where violence is so ubiquitous that total destruction seems inevitable. Morau creates an astonishing visual universe in which his characteristic poetic musicality and meticulously choreographed language of movement are key. He draws inspiration from the score by Sergei Prokofiev, who, in setting the Shakespearean drama to music, undeniably wrote one of the most impressive ballets of the 20th century. He masterfully expresses the sensual lyricism of the young lovers and allows the entire composition to be dominated by an ominous undertone.