A New Look at Romeo and Juliet

Cathy Marston brings Shakespeare’s famous lovers to Ballett Zürich, with Gianandrea Noseda conducting Prokofiev’s score.

Cathy Marston’s Romeo and Juliet for Ballett Zürich takes a fresh look at Shakespeare’s famous story of young love caught between two hostile families. Rather than relying on the familiar images of sword fights and poison, Marston tells the tragedy through a more poetic stage language: flowers, mirrors, shifting spaces and finely drawn characters.

The evening begins in the bright atmosphere of a Verona flower market, where love still seems possible and the story has the lightness of a romantic comedy. But with Mercutio’s death, the mood changes. The stage darkens, the world closes in, and what began as youthful desire becomes a psychological tragedy.

Marston also gives new weight to the people around the lovers, showing how family loyalties, social pressure and old hatred shape the fate of Romeo and Juliet. David Fleischer’s set creates a layered, labyrinthine city, while his costumes move from colour and lightness to a stark darker world. Gianandrea Noseda conducts the Orchestra of Zurich Opera House in Prokofiev’s powerful score.

Romeo and Juliet
Based on the tragedy of the same name by William Shakespeare
Music by Sergei Prokofiev

Cathy Marston, Choreography and staging
Ballett Zürich
Gianandrea Noseda, musical direction
Orchester der Oper Zürich

Cathy Marston & Edward Kemp, scenario
Martin Gebhardt, lighting design
Gianandrea Noseda, musical direction
David Fleischer, stage and costume design
Edward Kemp & Michael Küster, dramaturgy

A UHD HDR production of Accentus Music
In Coproduction with NHK and Marquee TV
In Cooperation with Opernhaus Zürich