Reworked play hits right notes
Three-act ballet. Choreography Robin van Wyk. Music: Sergei Prokofiev. Lighting: Shamiel Abrahams. Presented by Cape Town City Ballet. Maynardville Open Air Theatre. Sundays only at 8.15pm until February 26. WHEN Shakespeare’s 1595 tragic Romeo and Juliet and Sergei Prokofiev’s Op 64 masterpiece were put together, ideal conditions were spawned to create a ballet gem.
And so it has proven since Vanya Psota’s choreography launched Romeo and Juliet to Prokofiev’s sublime score at Brno Ballet in 1938.
From that time, numerous brilliantly imaginative choreographic versions have thrilled audiences. Choreographers of Mikhail Lavrosky’s ilk (Kirov, 1939) were followed by ingenious minds in Moscow, Belgrade as well as, Frederick Ashton’s 1955 account for the Royal Danish Ballet.
For Stuttgart Ballet, South African choreographer John Cranko’s composition joined those greats. As did Kenneth Macmillan’s 1965 ballet for Royal Ballet and Veronica Paeper’s 1975 for Capab ballet.
On Sunday night, at Maynardville Open Air Theatre, Cape Town City Ballet’s (CTCB) artistic director Robin van Wyk premiered his new Romeo and Juliet model. Although Van Wyk’s choreographic inventiveness remains locked into standard classroom allegro vocabulary, this performance’s strength lies in Van Wyk’s trimming Prokofiev’s score to 103 dancing minutes rather than the normal lengthy 2 hours 10 minutes.
He has done this – helped by recording engineer Gerhard Huizinga’s expertise – without noticeably disturbing the musical flow. Then, by introducing new aspects, including extending mime scenes, the reworked scenario logically unfolds this woeful tale.
Beginning by employing the overture, Van Wyk’s ballet opens with Death leading four monks carrying a litter on which lies the “dead” Juliet (Laura Bosenberg). CTCB’s present strong male contingent offered Van Wyk golden opportunities to devise bold, energetic dances and exciting sword fights between kinsmen from “two houses at variance with each other”.
Arming household heads Montague (Mervyn Williams) and Capulet (Johnny Bovang) with twohanded swords could have added excitement to duelling clansmen.
Instead, the two Lords battled to wield their unwieldy swords without any power or conviction. The predictable swordsmanship between youths and pedestrian corps patterning did not add much choreographic value.
Clearly defined character contrasts between aggressive Tybalt (Conrad Nusser), mercurial Mercutio (Martin Milner) and Bosenberg as a captivating Juliet lent credit to his reading.
Nusser, determined to continue family feuds, tapped into his strong technique to dominate from beginning to end. Milner’s fleetness and lightness, matching his sense humour, acted as a foil to Tybalt whom he teased till “stabbed in the back”.
Bosenberg’s rare interpretive and technical gifts allow her to portray roles from purely romantic to character. As Juliet, she distinguished herself growing from childhood, to astonishment at her womanhood, to being passionately in love with Romeo (Thomas Thorne). As a couple they dealt with complicated lifts and presages with accustomed ease.
Lighting facilities are limited. Nevertheless Luke Ellenbogen managed an atmospheric lighting plan, enhancing the simple set.
See www.capetowncityballet.org.za for alternate casts. Book 021 438 2309. Computicket 061 915 8000.