Romeo & Juliet

English National Ballet brings Shakespeare's great love story to the stage with Rudolf Nureyev's inventive and passionate choreography and Prokofiev's exhilarating score performed live by English National Ballet Philharmonic.

What a fabulous evening of ballet, music and spectacle that was - this would be a wonderful show to introduce  someone new to ballet, or with ballet-phobia, to how beautiful it can really be.

With a huge cast of performers, a large orchestra, rich costuming and magnificent (if slow to change) sets this is, at one level, a hugely impressive production, but what I actually took away from the evening was the intimate story of two young lovers. Like many people I have seen many forms and productions of the Romeo and Juliet story over the years and have become somewhat immune to its emotional core - something about last night's ballet re-awakened that heart and I found myself genuinely involved and, crucially, moved by the protagonists plight.

The choreography is a real delight and the performances pure pleasure - Alina Cojocaru portrayed beautifully a young, petulant, love-struck girl hungry for her impetuous Romeo (Isaac Hernandez). The story telling was a delight, no need to read the programme notes, everything was so beautifully protrayed by a cast with no weak links.

Truly a night to remember - thank you ENB