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BALLET FILM ROMEO AND JULIET
2 Oct, 2012 @ 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
The film version of the Royal Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet, one of the greatest love stories and most magnificent ballets of all time, will be screened on 13 and 14 October at the Fugard Theatre Bioscope. The principal dancers in this production include Lauren Cuthbertson as Juliet and Ferderico Bonelli as Romeo – Barry Wordsworth conducts.
Romeo and Juliet was Kenneth MacMillan’s first full-evening ballet, and, from its premiere in 1965, has been one of The Royal Ballet’s signature works, popular all over the world. At the beginning of the ballet MacMillan’s crowd scenes teem with life and colour. It’s a pleasure to be able to follow the characters created by members of the corps de ballet as they portray the townspeople, market traders and servants of the rival Montagues and Capulets. However, once Romeo and Juliet meet, everything else on stage can only be scenery for their story. Three great pas de deux: the meeting in the ballroom, the balcony scene and the morning after the wedding, eloquently convey the narrative: adolescent shyness and fascination; the headlong rush of love declared, and the grief of parting. The final scene in the tomb, a pas de deux with a lifeless partner, is devastating.
The Royal Ballet has performed Romeo and Juliet well over 400 times, yet each performance is subtly different. Every pairing in the title roles brings fresh nuances to the young lovers’ characters, while the wealth of supporting roles, from the exuberant trio of harlots in the town square to the murderous rage of Tybalt, offers scope for dancers throughout the Company. Nicholas Georgiadis’s earthy Renaissance designs, with some of the original details recently restored, are the perfect backdrop.
Films to be screened up until the end of 2012 –
9 & 16 December 2012: 14h00 & 18h00 – The Nutcracker (Ballet: Peter Wright after Lev Ivanov: The Royal Ballet Company
The screening of Romeo and Juliet is at 16h00 on Saturday 13th October and on Sunday 14th October 2012 with tickets R100.00 per person. Friends of the Fugard benefit from generous discounts through the theatre’s box office. Bookings are via Computicket and the Fugard Theatre Box Office 021 461 4554. There is secure parking in the Harrington Street car park located at the corner of Caledon and Harrington streets and is available for the use of theatre patrons. A full cash bar is available before and after the screenings and patrons are encouraged to make use of the convenient pre-order system for interval refreshments.
In 2011 the Fugard Theatre, in the heart of District Six, was furnished with state-of-the-art Digital Cinema and Surround Sound equipment to transform the theatre into a magnificent Bioscope when required. The World Opera and Ballet screenings are presented in full high definition, with 5.1 digital dolby surround sound. The recently completed inaugural season of World Opera and Ballet at the Fugard Theatre Bioscope featured iconic operas and many popular ballets, featuring some of the biggest stars of the World stages.
The 280-seater Fugard Theatre is located within the historic Sacks Futeran building in Cape Town’s District Six, with the renovated Congregational Church Hall in Caledon Street as its entrance. Construction of The Fugard Theatre was underwritten by its founding producer Eric Abraham, and is named in honour of Athol Fugard, South Africa’s greatest playwright.
