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Her Romeo, Carlos Acosta, approaches the part for the first time this season. He shows a similar combination if qualities by retaining his characteristic danseur noble traits while uncovering a more sensitive and dramatic side to his dancing than we have seen before. His experience and maturity are apparent in his approach to the choreography: Macmillan’s Romeo requires neat and precise footwork and perfect line, and to my surprise, Acosta fulfilled these demands. After his sublime opening night on the 3rd, today Acosta appeared tired and slightly unsteady. Even so, he gave a fine and moving performance, confirmed by huge cheers at the curtain call.
 

The Royal Ballet appear to be on top form. Jose Martin and Yohei Sasaki as Mercutio and Benvolio were appropriately comic and tragic, with impeccable pirouettes and accurate footwork. Martin’s Mercutio was appealing and touching, and his death was well done and extremely effective, while Thiago Soares performed Tybalt as angry, violent and indisputably sinister. David Pickering’s Paris was customarily smug, and Elizabeth McGorian as Lady Capulet carried out her powerful mime scene with confidence and panache. Her grief and desperation are painfully real, and McGorian performed the sequence to high effect.

Romeo and Juliet remains a timeless masterpiece, and Rojo and Acosta give an extremely moving portrayal of the protagonists. They both have an element of essentiality: she an essential femininity and he an essential masculinity, which gives their performance a raw sexuality which sometimes gets overlooked. Acosta’s first performances of Romeo further the credibility of the romantic sensibilities of his dancing, while the production as a whole retains its well deserved status as one of the leading balletic achievements of the 20th century.