Emotions beyond words

Royal Opera (Stockholm) 2023-04-18

Juliet & Romeo

Conductor: Nir Kabaretti

Kungliga Hovkapellet

Johan Ullén, piano

Music: Pjotr Tjajkovskij, selected by Mats Ek, adapted by Anders Högstedt

Text/libretto: Mats Ek, efter Shakespeare

Choreography: Mats Ek

Light: Linus Fellbom

Scenography and costume: Magdalena Åberg

Juliet: Emily Slawski

Romeo: Anthony Lomuljo

The father: Dawid Kupinski

The mother: Desislava Stoeva

The prince: Yvan Auzely

The nurse: Jeannette Wren

Paris: Calum Lowden

Tybalt: Daniel Goldsmith

Mercutio: Daniel Norgren-Jensen

Benvolio: Dmitry Zagrebin

Rosalinda: Coralie Aulas

Peter: Jonatan Davidsson

Some people talk about "stage magic" - moments or performances that create feelings that go beyond any text, music or gesture. This was such an evening. This was not "dance" - it was something much more than that. It was emotions flowing through a presence in the moment. 

The dancers didn't act their roles - they WERE their roles. They seemed to move in the only way that role could move out of those emotions. It didn't even feel like dancing - it was emotions and life expressed without the burden of words. 

And still - I know that all this is shaped through detailed instructions, hard work and technical brilliance. I know that behind that freedom in expression are countless of hours of thinking, rethinking, practicing and much more. All that hard work paid off tonight in a performance as natural and (seemingly) effortless  that it felt like it was created in that very moment. Every movement, every slight change of balance, every look seemed to come out of something totally true. 

(There were only two instances when the magic slightly cracked, and I started to think abot the movements and movements instead of emotions. Both were related to the Prince - once when he rolled onto the stage and once when he did his pendulum movements holding on to the wall.)

Mats Ek is a genious. What more can one say? He has found the core in this story. And he has found a way to tell it. Not only tell it, but let other FEEL it.

The scenography by Magdalena Åberg is extremely efficient and it plays a vital part in telling the story. Those moving walls become restrictions, facilitators, support. 

Linus Fellbom might be the Master of Light. Here he creates depth and focus in a way that is fully integrated in the drama. The light is not there for us to see, but to help us feel. 

Nir Kabaretti is a totally new name to me. His way of leading the orchestra through all this beautilful and dramatic music was top notch. He created lyrcism and drama. He shaped long organic lines. There was a deep sensitivity to the music's part in the drama. 

And the dancer's were all brilliant. But let me just mention a few of them. 

Emily Slawski danced a young Juliet that was totally believable. Young, playful, stubborn. And the way she matures through the meeting with Romeo became totally relevant. For the very first time ever I SAW Juliet - and I could understand her.

Anthony Lomuljo IS Romeo. I think that I have never seen anyone move on a stage so totally from within. Everything is there - playfulness, ease, despair, curiosity, love. Everything he does seems so natural and so totally true. And Romeo will for me forever be when he sits up on the top of the wall at the end of the first act. Just the way he is sitting is telling tons.

Daniel Norgren-Jensen is dancing one of the most challenging roles in this production - Mercutio. And the way he is doing it! The emotions run fast through his body - intensity, fear, humour, vulnerability, desperation. His body explodes with all this emotions. It is as if every of his movements come out of an urgent need to move - as a way of not exploding. His virtuosity is the perfect tool for this.