Declan Donnellan's new
production of Romeo and Juliet for the Bolshoi Ballet is unusually
short. He has chopped out prominent characters and quite a
few incidents in order to concentrate on the two lovers. However,
he never lets us see them alone together, they are always
surrounded and even carried around by the undifferentiated
ensemble. That makes sense of a sort if you imagine this crowd
symbolising the balcony for the famous love scene - but in
the bedroom? And the tomb? Donnellan says he loves ballet,
especially this one, however it is his first involvement and
his dramatic flair just does not come over here.
Presumably he, as director, is to blame
that Prokofiev's score is as largely ignored as Shakespeare's
story but his adjunct choreographer Radu Poklitaru does not
help. He is unknown here and perhaps the lack of information
about him in the expensive programme book is meant to suggest
he will stay that way. Peter Darrell and Colin Graham in sixties
Britain showed that choreographer-director collaborations
can work but only when they are equally matched. The cast
do their best with the muddled, jerky dances, with Denis Savin
and Maria Alexandrova as the title pair. Yuri Klevtsov is
a big brave Mercutio in drag but only Lola Kochetkova's attractively
rounded little Rosalind manages to show real spirit.
