Matthew Bourne’s stunning re-imagining of Romeo & Juliet now streaming online

If you have never seen any of Sir Matthew Bourne’s stunning ballets then you are so missing out, This award-winning queer Brit choreographer has produced breath-taking genre-bridging adaptations of classics like “Swan Lake,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Car Man” and “The Red Shoes”. 

Now his latest one Romeo and Juliet, which was filmed live at Sadler’s Wells in London especially for cinemas, is streaming online on Amazon Prime and other platforms. such as https://nycc.vhx.tv/products  (only to April 4th)

This being a Bourne production for his company New Adventures there is none of the usual sumptuous Renaissance period costuming and décor and the ribald whores and riotous crowds. Instead, he has set Shakespeare’s classic story of love and conflict in the white-tiled, stark environs of the Verona Institute.

Here set in the not-too-distant future  “difficult” young people are mysteriously confined by a society that seeks to divide and crush their youthful spirit and individuality. The two young lovers must follow their hearts as they risk everything to be together.

Romeo and Juliet star Cordelia Braithwaite as Juliet, Paris Fitzpatrick as Romeo, Dan Wright as Tybalt, and Ben Brown as Mercutio.  Direction and choreography by Matthew Bourne, design by Lez Brotherston, and new orchestrations of the Prokofiev score by Terry Davies