Romeo and Juliet is a narrative, or a story ballet. It is divided into Three Acts, as in a play. Each Act has a series if different scenes.
Below is the synopsis or summary of the story of the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s version of Romeo and Juliet.
ACT 1
Scene 1 – The Town Square
Verona is split by a feud between the Montague and Capulet families. Romeo, a young Montague, opens up a café in the town square. He flirts with his regular customer, Rosaline. Tension between the rival families boils over into a street brawl. Escalus, the Mayor, and his squad interrupt the fight and instill an uneasy peace. He commands the families end their feud.
Scene II – Juliet’s Bedroom
Juliet and her friends are interrupted by her parents, Lord and Lady Capulet. They introduce Juliet to Paris. It is clear to Paris that Juliet would be a suitable marriage partner.
Scene III – Outside the Capulet House
Guests arrive for a ball at the Capulet house. Mercutio and Benvolio persuade Romeo to join them in gate-crashing the ball in disguise. Knowing Rosaline is inside, he agrees.
Scene IV – The Ballroom in the Capulet House
Lord and Lady Capulet lead the guests in a dance. Juliet enters and is paired up with Paris by her family; she dutifully dances with him. By chance, she and Romeo cross paths: it is love at first sight. Tybalt recognizes Romeo and tries to throw him out. Mindful of Escalus’ directive to keep the peace, Lord Capulet intervenes.
Scene V – Outside the Capulet House
Lady Capulet sees off the departing guests, reserving an especially fond farewell for her lover, Tybalt.
Scene VI – Juliet’s Balcony
Juliet watches the guests leave from her balcony. Romeo appears in the garden. She sees him and descends to meet him. They declare their love for each other.
ACT II
Scene I – The Town Square
A love-sick Romeo watches a wedding party enter a nearby church. Benvolio and Mercutio try to distract him with their high-spirited antics. The newlyweds emerge from the church and being to celebrate. Mercutio stages a commedia dell’arte on the theme of love for the guests’ entertainment. Juliet’s nurse arrives with a letter for Romeo. He reads that Juliet has agreed to be his wife.
Scene II – The Chapel
The lovers are secretly married by Friar Laurence. He hopes that their union will one day end the fighting between their families.
Scene III – The Town Square
The wedding festivities continue. Tybalt arrives looking for Romeo. He tries to provoke Romeo into a fight but Romeo resists. Mercutio leaps to his friend’s defence and challenges Tybalt. He jokes as their knives cut the air, but for Tybalt it is no laughing matter; he kills Mercutio. Romeo, avenging the death, slits Tybalt’s throat. At this moment Lady Capulet passes by with Juliet. She sees what has taken place and becomes enraged. Juliet looks on in despair at her mother’s public outpouring of grief.
ACT III
Scene I – Juliet’s Bedroom
The lovers spend the night together. As dawn breaks, Juliet begs Romeo to stay with her. He tells her he must leave and go into hiding. As soon as he has left, Lord and Lady Capulet enter the room with Paris. Her parents insist that Juliet marry Paris. She refuses. In desperation, Juliet turns to Friar Laurence for help.
Scene II – The Chapel
Juliet arrives at the chapel to find Paris discussing the wedding with Friar Laurence. The priest quickly shows Paris out. Friar Laurence gives Juliet a sleeping potion that will send her into a deep sleep, telling her that her parents will believe she is dead and place her in the family crypt. Meanwhile, he will send word to Romeo to carry her away when she wakes.
Scene III – Juliet’s Bedroom
That evening, Juliet seems to give into her parents’ pressure; she agrees to marry Paris. Left alone, she is filled with dread. She drinks the potion and falls into a deep sleep. The next morning, Juliet’s bridesmaids arrive to prepare her for marriage. When they try to wake her she appears to be dead. The wedding becomes a funeral.
Scene IV – The Crypt
Juliet is laid to rest by her family. Word of her death has reached Romeo. He has not heard about the sleeping potion, nor indeed anything that has happened since he left Verona. He races into the crypt and overcome with grief, poisons himself. When Juliet awakens she discovers her lover dead beside her and takes her own life.
THE THEMES IN ROMEO AND JULIET
This is a ballet about contrasts:
- the Capulet family against the Montague family
- love against hate
- night against day
- Romeo’s passion against Paris’s suitability as a husband for Juliet
- rash behaviour against prudent or wise behaviour
FOCUS QUESTION
- Look at the film clips of the ballet. Identify some of the contrasting themes. How has the choreographer emphasized contrast in the movements he has used? Describe these scenes.
THE USE OF MIME
‘Mime’ is acting out a feeling or an idea using gestures instead of words.
Because Romeo and Juliet is a ‘story’ ballet, the dancers must be very good actors as well as dancers. They must be able to fuse dance movements with mimed actions to convey the depths of passion and the emotions they are feeling.
FOCUS QUESTION
- Look at the film clips of the ballet and choose one section where the dancers are using both mime and dance movements. What emotions or ideas are they conveying? Describe how they are doing this?
Act 1 scene 1 - FIGHT SEQUENCE
- Clip sixteen - Rehearsing the fight and table turning
- Clip seventeen - Back view of table turning
- Clip eighteen - Rehearsing the fight sequence between tybalt and mercutio (I)
- Clip nineteen - Rehearsing the fight sequence between tybalt and mercutio (II)
- Clip twenty - Rehearsing the fight sequence between tybalt and mercutio (III)
- Clip twenty one - Rehearsing thr fight sequence between tybalt and mercutio (IV)
Act 1 scene 3 - GUESTS ARRIVING FOR THE BALL
- Clip twenty two - Guests arriving for the ball (I)
- Clip twenty three - Guests arriving for the ball (II)
Act 1 scene 4 - THE BALLROOM
It was amazing, overall! <-- Typical line probably everyone used...
The dancing was of course, elegant, since it was a ballet, and the way that everyone was in unison was really nice to watch~~♪
I loved the choreography for Mercutio, since all the scenes that had him in it I couldn't keep my eyes off at how jumpy he was! The way he was just out of time made it close to how Mercutio actually is in the version with Nureyev, right, so it was really interesting to instantly know that it was him~♪
I LOVED THAT MOVING SET SO MUCH!!
The fact that it was the same set and how simple it was to make it into another scene almost made my mouth drop open...
Not that it actually did, but it looked really awesome! The moon = win. It just came and went! And the simple doorway in Juliet's room!!!!
Actually, it looked like a closet door at first, though...
Truthfully, I was disappointed that there wasn't an orchestra, since I'm a music student also, but it was nice to hear Prokoviev's pieces for it. It really brought out the meaning of the dance, like the scene with R&J! It was clear that it was a romantic scene, but the music really made it more heartwarming~♪
For the lighting I'll just say that I really enjoyed how in the last scene that red lighting was used since Juliet couldn't get blood on her costume at that time, right... It was quite effective, but everyone was still thinking "...where's the blood??"
And then I finally realized that the red lighting symbolized it~!!!... at least, that's what I think...
As for my favorite part, I guess it was the fight between Mercutio and Tybalt.
It amused me how carefree Mercutio was, it had me laughing quite a bit and I "aww"'d when he died.
His character basically stood out to me since it kind of reminds me of myself when I'm on a sugar rush...
For the experience, it was like seeing an orchestra! But only the performers were moving!!!
And the fact that the ballet didn't have so many movements like an actual orchestra would, right...
Thank you so much to Miss Knight and the company for letting us view this performance~~
I'd very much love to see it again~♪♪♪
Hey RNZB!!!
My name is Nadine.
On Wednesday 23rd of July, before the day of the ballet, we had a workshop with Miss White, and she taught us some moves from the choreography of Romeo and Juliet and we had a really good time with her. thank you for coming I really enjoyed it.
On the 24th of July, our dance teacher Miss Knight took us to watch the ballet of Romeo and Juliet. I will have to say that this ballet was very BEAUTIFUL!.
The setting of the ballet was fantastic. I liked the stairs how they would turn from one side to another, I also liked the moon it looked very real and the the images of buildings in the back were very nice as well.
The choreography was amazing, i really liked the job that Christopher Hampson did in this beautiful choreography. When they had to act it was very clear, the fights looked very real and all the dancers were ffantastic!.
The costumes were very petty, I loved how they all matched in tones of red, grey, white and black they were looking really formal and great for every part of the dance.
Yu Takayama and Brendon Bradshow did really amazing in their parts of Romeo and Juliet they danced so beautiful, I really loved both of them.
I loved it all, as it was my very first ballet that i watched in a theatre and it was as I thought very emotional and lovely
Thanks very much
I loved it
Nadine
Hey RNZB, our names are Jordan & Hayley & we are both students from Glenfield College that came to see the ballet of Romeo + Juliet. We really liked the dancing in this ballet & i thought it was very well suited to the story & also the characters.
We thought the choreography was very sentimental to the story because it brought out true emotions within the audience. Although the choreography was well presented & detailed, it might have been a bit drawn out in some places.
The sense of everyone being so melo-dramatic was very intense & helped the audience to understand what was going on.
The set was simple, but effective. The moving stage made the ballet easy to follow.
The lighting really helped to set the mood & emotions so that the audience knew what was coming up.
The ball was our favourite bit. We both absolutely loved the music & thought that the choreography performed at the ball was the best choreography in the ballet!
The costumes were stunning. The theme of red was effective as it reminded the audience though-out the ballet that the main idea was love & didnt let the boys get too carried away with the conflict & violence!
The whole experience of attending the ballet gave us both a new outlook on modern ballet & hope to see more in the future! Thank you to our lovely teacher, Miss Knight, for organising our trip (love you Miss). Thank you for putting on a special show for us students & thank you for all your hard work, it really showed in the performance.
P.S. We loved Will Pratt (& his sexy accent) & the dancer that played Bervolio!!!!! SEXY =)
This was my first live ballet i had ever been to, there was nothing that i didnt like about it.
The dancing was very precise, the dancers used every inch of effort and gave it their all. The dancers energy was pushed out to the maximum they had. It was also very flowing, even the atmosphere through the dances was thick and very eye-catching.
The choreography was BEAUTIFUL!! the spins, turns, lifts and pirouette's were stunning, they gave the story that little bit extra dazzle. The choreography and how movements were used was subtle and graceful, VERY flowing...watching the choreography was amazing. During the performance i was thinking to myself, it is amazing how perfected and extrordinary the choreography was and thinking how awesome it would be to be able to the same movements.
The set was really good. Even though at the beginning i was a little bit confused with the gold circle that came down to the left (from audience position) of the stage. I couldnt tell whether it was the sun or whether it was meant to represent something different. The quick changes of setting such as changing from the outside of capulet's house to Juiliet's balcony worked really well, the balcony moved so that the audience was able to see Juiliet on the balcony.
The music was EXTRAORDINARY!! the music was very high yet this gave the performance a sense of placement, like when the ball starts at Capulet's house the music became really loud and brought tension in the scene.
The lighting in Romeo and Juiliet was very good, the lighting changed depending on what mood was to be protrayed or to give the feeling something was going to happen, such as when the ball began at Capulet's house. The lighting was red with a little bit of blue, this gave the impression of soemthing grand, glamourous or something/someone with high power. Lighting was also used to show what time of the day it was. If it was the evening then the lighting changed into an orange/blue colour, yet when it was night a slightly navy blue was used against the contrast of the moon (this was coloured grey).
The costumes in Romeo and Juiliet were so beautiful, and bright. The costumes of Romeo was very plain, except for his trousers which stood out as they were red. Juiliet's costume was also very plain, but once it stood out as the dress was all sparkly red or white. During the ball in Capulet's house all the ladies except for Juiliet and her friends wore great big dresses that were just so wonderful and amazing that they took your breath away, imagine going to a ball in the dresses they wore and wearing one of them to the ball today. One word is all that is needed, stunning!! just stunning.
My favourite part was the Capulet's ball because the dresses combined with the dancing and music worked really well together. The dresses was the best and the dancing was eye-catching.
The experience was amazing. The music, the lighting, the set, the dancing, the choreography and the costumes were just brilliant. The things that stood out for me were the music, lighting and costumes.
A BIG HUGE thank you to our dance teacher Mrs Knight who allowed us to view this proformance she really one of the best teachers out there!!! Thanks heaps to the performers and all the people who helped in the production of Romeo and Juiliet it was purily amazing and brilliant to see live...Thank you all
Hey
I found Romeo and Juliet completly amazing. My favorite scence of the whole performance was when Mercutio and Tybalt were dueling. I found it very amusing and funny to watch.
The music was awsome, my favorite song throughout the whole ballet was the music at the ball scene, it was really cool how they also did the dance with a big cast and everything was in time.
My favorite prop was the moon, it was so realistic and how the light on the moon came up from the bottom so it had a shine to it.
I thought the costumes were awsome, my fav costume was Benvolios. I loved how it crossed over and the colour really suited his personalty in the ballet.
I loved the choreography, it was so soft for some characters but in some others in was very playful or hard. I thought that the whole cast showed their emotion through the dance extremly well, i could always tell what scence it was and what was happening throughout the whole dance.
The experence i had going to the ballet was amazing, i really wanted to go the next night but unfortionaly i couldnt make it.
The only down point for the whole performance was the music volume. it was very loud and hurt my ears a little bit, if i was just a little bit quieter it would have been perfect.
Thank you for the great performance you provided for us.
To the great team of the RNZB I congratulate you on a solid performance. The dancers were superb and very professional. They were making the moves look easy when i know as a fellow dancer that they are not. I especially liked the part when they are in the ballroom and all the couples are dancing in sync. Christopher Hampson needs to be very proud of his work as it was very technical and unique. He is lucky to have dancers that can portray his choreography directly. Outstanding set. I loved how it revolved round and changed the scene so dramatically. It was cool how they came out of different heights and walkways. And the moon was so good, applause for the person who did that. I liked how you kept the music from the original ballet. It was nice hearing the original piece even though it's a new version. It flowed so well that it wasn't just music and dance. It was mixed as one to make it extra special. We could see the dance so the lighting was good. The way that the spotlight shone and from so many directions was awesome. Lady Capulet’s dress at the ball scene was SO GOOD! I loved it. But all the designs were gorgeous, done with such precision and care. It topped off the dancers look and fitted them well into their character. My favorite part was the ball scene at the beginning when everyone was dancing as couples. I enjoyed going to the Ballet as I’ve never been to one before and it was a great experience which I hope to have more of In the future. Maybe next time you can do the nutcracker!
Hi There,
I'm a student form Glenfield College who came and saw your show.
I went last night and I thought it was amazing, it was the first full ballet i had seen live and i could not beleive how talented all the dancers were. Mercutio was my faourite dancer, I think he did such a good job at being cheeky just like the story says.
I loved the choreography, I liked the ball scene best, when the Prokoviev music started it was so exciting. The costumes in that act were incredible, I could see that so much work had gone into them, they were so detailed!
I really liked how the set was done and how it moved through out the ballet to change the background i thought that was really well done.
I loved the lighting at the end of the ballet when Romeo danced with the lifeless Juliet, and how it was very dull but the light shone down onto the dancers nicely, it gave a really nice effect. I thought Juliet did a really awesome job at being unconcious and it looked really realistic when Romeo danced with her, I couldn't even see at all that she was holding her weight at all like she would have been.
The ballet was so beautiful and I'm so glad I got the opportunity to see it. I can promise you I will be going to every other Ballet event you hold!!!!
Thank you so much
First of all I would love to thank and congratulate the RNZB for their effort in presenting a brilliant performance and keeping me well entertained. Also for my teacher for preparing me about the story of R&J and Ms. White for informing us about how to react to the performance and what to expect, also for helping us with ballet “language”. E.g. Love, hate, death etc. I loved scene three Act II it was my favorite part. Probably because the fighting was really funny with Mercutio kissing people at random and playing around with Tybalt and making fun of him. But it was sad to see Mercutio die because he was my favorite character. Also the dance element, call and response where Romeo’s two best friends does the leap in the air and bend their bottom knee to let their toes touch their knee and then Romeo watches then follow in. the set was really well done. Especially the way it moves to suit the next scene. I loved how Elliot Rudolf (Paris) was talking to the audience at break about “himself”. I think that subject doesn’t exist. Well obviously. But I agree with him that the moon was the best part of the set. Tracy Grant Lord is a brilliant designer my friend’s loves Lady Capulet’s dress and they want to buy it from her. And because my friends have absolute exquisite taste in clothing I have to take their word for it. The experience of going to a ballet was really awesome! Seeing that I have not watched a ballet performance in ages!! The first ballet I watched was The Nutcracker. But R&J was soo much better!
Hey I'm Halatono from Glenfield College!!!I came and watched your performance on the 24.07.08.I really loved the dancing!!My personal favourite dancer was Mercutio because I just loved his sense of energy and funnyness.I also loved his dancing because it just stood out so well compared to Benvolio and Romeo.Everyone thought that Romeo was the best male dancer but I personally think that Mercutio was the best!The Choreography of the dances was so amazing,I have seen no other ballet better than the Royal NZ Ballet.You guys did an awesome job on it.And also about the set,my favourite prop in the set was the big moon,it was so gigantic and beautiful,never seen a such a big moon.The music of the ballet was so cool,you could tell when it was a sad scene because it went to sad music and when it was a happy or angry scene it changed to that type of music,Prokoviev is such an amazing composer.The lighting of the ballet was also amazing because every scene with lighting it just made the characters stand out so well.My favourite part of the ballet was when Romeo killed Tybalt,I just love moments when the good guys get the bad guys back.And to add to that the costumes were so magnificent!My favourite costume was the ones the ladys were wearing on the ball night.It looked so stunning when they flicked it around because it was like a pattern.My experience of going to the ballet was good because it was my first time to attend a real ballet performance,usually I'd just watch it on tv but to see it in real life,it just felt so good.And last of all I'd just like to thank my teacjer Ms knight,if it weren't for her,I would have not been able to go on this trip and before the ballet performance she explained the story so that we understood because we knew it was a non-talking performance and it would just be a waste of time going there without knowing what's going to happen.So I'd just like to thank her!!She's been so good to us and it's a privilege to have her as our dance teacher!!Thank you Ms Knight.
Hey RNZB!
my names chelsea , and im a dance student at glenfield college over the northshore. i personally loved the ballet of romeo and juliet . i thought the set was absoultley great! the way you made the lighting make the red costumes really really stand out was so cool. i also found the choreography really intense but beautiful at the same time. the choreographer should be really proud of his or her work. and oh my gosh! the costumes were reeeeeally pretty juliet looked like a princess , and all the other characters were really well presented.
im studing all sorts of dance this year and im also a ballet dancer six days a week so i know all about the hard work, grit and determination you need to become a dancer , so i would just like too say that the dancing and dancers have really inspired me too go for my dream.
thankyou so much. you guys are amazing!