Romeo and Juliet, Ballet Cymru.  Weston Studio, Wales Millennium Centre

Based on the play by William Shakespeare

Music: Serge Prokofieff

Artistic Director: Darius James

Choreography: Amy Doughty

Reviewer: Barbara Michaels

A modern-day take on Shakespeare’s masterpiece, with the occasional Welsh reference thrown in for good measure.  Does it work?  In part – yes, but in others artistic director   Darius James’ adaptation doesn’t quite cut the mustard for this critic, although the minimalist set makes clever use of Michal Iwanowski’s atmospheric video projections.  Choreography by assistant artistic director Amy Doughty includes a realistic fight scene, but one must question the value of inserting a clog dance (taught by Huw Williams, brought in especially for the task) despite the Welsh connotations.

The well-known story of the two young lovers caught in an age-old feud which, after bloody fights and fisticuffs, ends in their demise is known to many.  It takes a brave man, therefore – particularly during a season when the Royal Ballet Company are staging the iconic Macmillan version at the Opera House in Covent Garden  – to venture thus far, and for that James  must be commended.  Unfortunately, by cutting the length of the ballet and, with a small cast thus omitting some of the usually characters, much of the intrinsic background and detail  of the piece has been lost, despite being set to the original Prokofieff score.

Having said that, the dancing is of a high standard and there is considerable talent to be found among the dancers, who alternate in the roles at different performances.  On this night Romeo was danced by Daniel Morrison and Juliet by Emily Pimm Edwards.   Morrison is a graceful dancer and his slender physique is well suited to the role, although he must learn to engage with the audience earlier.  At his best in the balcony scene, he fails to convey Romeo’s anguish in the pivotal scene in which Mercutio is mortally wounded on his behalf.

Which brings me to Daisuke Miura whose Mercutio is one of the joys of this production - a.   cheeky, bouncy Mercutio con brio if every there was one.  His exuberant and acrobatic style is a perfect fit with the character he portrays. This is a dancer to watch.

Dancing the central role of Juliet, Pimm Edwards - a dancer of considerable talent and technical expertise – gives a poised and polished performance, showing a maturity throughout which is at times at odds with the character she portrays.  This is particularly the case in the earlier scenes of Act I.  Pimm Edwards is an experienced dancer, and should have been able to metamorphose into the young girl who is Juliet without a problem.  Her portrayal, however, is too sophisticated for the young age that Juliet is.

The reverse is the case with Lydia Arnoux’s performance as Juliet’s young friend Cerys.  Shakespeare wrote the part as an old nurse but, hey, who are we to quibble?  Arnoux – another dancer to watch – gives us a bubbly and skittish young girl with a wide-eyed innocence that Pimm Edwards could with advantage apply to her characterisation of Juliet.

A pity that this performance was danced to a sound track instead of the orchestra of the Sinfonia Cymru which provided the music when it was first performed earlier this year at the Riverfront Theatre in Newport.  Despite this, some fine dancing made this a most enjoyable evening.