Getting Ready for #RomeO2

Tonight The Royal Ballet begins its three-day residency at London’s O2. This is the first time the Company has set foot on a UK arena and, to mark the occasion, they are fielding an all-star cast to perform in Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet. Taking turns as the famous star-crossed lovers are Carlos Acosta and Tamara Rojo (tonight and Sunday), Edward Watson and Lauren Cuthbertson (Saturday matinée), plus Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg (Saturday evening).

[singlepic id=458 w=490 h=327 float=center]

We dropped by the O2 yesterday to watch a stage rehearsal and follow the Company as they put the finishing touches to their first big scale ballet:

[singlepic id=454 w=490 h=327 float=center]

Three giant screens will ensure audiences experience MacMillan’s choreography at its most cinematic, with movies by the Ballet Boyz to help bridge any stage-to-screen gaps.

[singlepic id=455 w=490 h=327 float=center]

Having just finished ballet class, Edward Watson & Lauren Cuthbertson were trying out steps. They haven’t danced Romeo & Juliet together since 2004 and are thrilled to be teaming up again. Lauren says: “It’s a dream. Better than we can ever have imagined; it’s really lovely that we had this chance to go full circle because when we first danced it there was chemistry but not really a natural fit, so now we feel like it’s our time to dance well together!”

Ed strikes his signature “HB pencil-drawn” arabesque:

[singlepic id=445 w=490 h=327 float=center]

Ed & “Loz” have recently appeared as very quirky special guests in Bennet Gartside’s latest #RomeO2 video blog. Here’s their version of the “extreme close-up“:

[singlepic id=452 w=490 h=327 float=center]

The pair had woken up at 6am for a spot in the BBC Breakfast News and still had a full day ahead, including that evening’s general rehearsal. But before “quiet time” Lauren was planning to catch a glimpse of Tamara and Carlos: “I really want to watch [their] rehearsal so I’m going to stay for a bit of Act 1 and nap in the interval. Then I’m going to get something to eat, then hair, make up and go through steps again!”

[singlepic id=467 w=490 h=327 float=center]

With the stage rehearsal due to start soon, it was time for us to sneak a peek backstage

[singlepic id=471 w=490 h=327 float=center]

Various ROH departments have set up camp at the O2. Costumes and shoes have been transferred into the building, with stocks of shoe dyes, ribbons, wigs, etc. readily available.

[singlepic id=466 w=490 h=327 float=center]

[singlepic id=464 w=490 h=327 float=center]

[singlepic id=465 w=490 h=327 float=center]

Stage management is all set for this afternoon’s rehearsal

[singlepic id=457 w=490 h=327 float=center]

Last minute instructions from AD Monica Mason ahead of the full call. Right: Bennet takes the opportunity to gather material for his series of O2 video blogs.

[singlepic id=472 w=490 h=327 float=center]

Montagues vs. Capulets… Swords at the ready!

[singlepic id=463 w=490 h=327 float=center]

Left: Thiago Soares as Tybalt (watch him talk about his role here). Right: Gary Avis as Escalus, the Prince of Verona, shames a Capulet.

[singlepic id=441 w=490 h=365 float=center]

And… action!

[singlepic id=443 w=490 h=365 float=center]

MacMillan’s Romeo & Juliet had to be adapted for the arena format, so regular ballet audiences will spot a number of tweaks in the traditional production, including the use of video for certain scene transitions. Lauren gave us an example: “There’s a bit where Juliet runs to the altar and it’s her last chance to get the courage to take the potion – but here there is no altar – so little things like that you have to suggest”

[singlepic id=444 w=490 h=327 float=center]

Carlos Acosta’s Romeo works the cape…

[singlepic id=460 w=490 h=327 float=center]

… while Elizabeth McGorian’s Lady Capulet sashays her gown

[singlepic id=446 w=490 h=327 float=center]

Tamara Rojo as Juliet

[singlepic id=447 w=351 h=530 float=center]

Romeo with his “buddies” Benvolio (Sergei Polunin) and Mercutio (José Martin)

[singlepic id=449 w=490 h=499 float=center]

[singlepic id=450 w=490 h=327 float=center]

Juliet: “Dear Paris, aren’t you a tad underdressed for this ball?”

[singlepic id=451 w=490 h=491 float=center]

The lovers meet at the ball

[singlepic id=453 w=490 h=551 float=center]

And this is how their first meeting looks on the giant screens

[singlepic id=468 w=490 h=327 float=center]

[singlepic id=459 w=490 h=407 float=center]

If you’ve got it, flaunt it!

[singlepic id=448 w=490 h=327 float=center]

The width of the stage is very impressive. First Soloist Bennet  (aka @Bennet76 on Twitter), who plays Tybalt on Saturday evening, says: “it’s actually housing our set quite well. Initially when we got here we thought ‘this is quite big’, but sometimes doing Romeo and Juliet at the Royal Opera House stage feels quite cramped – especially the ballroom scene so it’s nice that it has been pulled out.”

[singlepic id=461 w=490 h=327 float=center]

He thinks all this space will give the fights in Act 2 a different energy “We’re saying to each other ‘chase me!’ Because you have to use that width and then when we’re moving the crowd moves with us, so you have all that scale.”

[singlepic id=462 w=490 h=327 float=center]

Bennet’s clever mashup of “pop and high culture” in his vlogs has drawn the attention of the New York Times. He is feeling “Very excited. Not at all nervous – because we are used to doing this and, partly, because I don’t have to do as much as others – the possibility of performing in front of 12,000 people for me is definitely more exciting than daunting! Maybe I will get more nervous when I see the first night!”

[singlepic id=469 w=351 h=644 float=center]

Carlos and Tamara strike a pose. For a full photo album of the pair in rehearsal see our Facebook gallery.

[singlepic id=442 w=490 h=365 float=center]

Photographer Tristram Kenton snaps Tamara for a newspaper feature

[singlepic id=456 w=490 h=327 float=center]

Tamara captures the O2′s monumental scale on a quiet moment

[singlepic id=470 w=490 h=327 float=center]

“I think we can run wide and  travel the choreography but as for gestures, the minute they’re not true…  they become a bit more “Russian”, they look overly pronounced. So that’s my opinion. I won’t be understating anything but I won’t be overstating it. What hits people really is the real stuff.” Lauren Cuthbertson (@LondonBallerina) – live from the O2 – on MacMillan’s naturalistic choreography.


Romeo and Juliet runs at The O2 until 19 June 2011. For further information and to book tickets visit the ROH website.

All photos by The Ballet Bag ©

We started The Ballet Bag in April 2009 with the mission to prove that ballet is not stuffy, old fashioned and inaccessible; that it is quite the opposite: relevant, fresh and topical. With the aim to Give Ballet a New Spin we try to show it under a different light. When writing our capsule biographies, ballet fact cards, review roundups and commentary on social media, we cross it over with other art forms and cultural references (pop culture, cinema, rock music – ie. other things we love!).

15 Comments