Programmaboek Romeo en Julia - Het Nationale Ballet

8
act one
the story
1. a square in verona around 1400
The city is awakening. The bitter enmity
between Verona’s two most powerful
families, the Montagues and the
Capulets, erupts once again. The Duke
of Verona quells the fighting, forbidding
any further violence on pain of banishment.
2. the interior of the capulet’s palace
The household is busy preparing for the
forthcoming feast to celebrate the engagement
between Juliet and Paris, the
man whom Juliet’s parents have chosen
to be her husband. Juliet teases her nurse
who tries to explain to her that her days
of childhood have come to an end. She is
introduced to Paris, a rich nobleman.
3. in front of the palace gates
Guests are arriving for the masked ball
to celebrate the engagement of Juliet
and Paris. As a jest, Romeo, Mercutio
and Benvolio decide to enter their enemy’s
house.
4. at the capulet’s ball
In the midst of the crowded ballroom
Juliet sets eyes on Romeo. Both are smitten
by a passionate love and she realizes
the superficiality of her feelings for
Paris. Her cousin Tybalt recognizes his
enemy Romeo and unmasks him. The
nurse’s presentiment was right: Juliet’s
carefree youth is over.
5. the capulet’s palace
the ‘balcony scene’
Juliet muses at her bedroom window.
She catches sight of Romeo waiting for
her in the garden under cover of darkness.
In the intensity of the moment all
thought of danger is banished as they
swear eternal love.
act two
6. the square at midday
Dancers and processions herald the
celebration of a holy day. Mercutio and
Benvolio, disappointed by Romeo’s distant
behaviour, join in the celebrations.
The nurse brings Romeo a letter
from Juliet agreeing to marry him in
secret. She tells Romeo to meet her in
the chapel of her father confessor, Friar
Lawrence.
7. friar lawrence’s chapel
Romeo persuades Friar Lawrence to
give his blessing to his marriage to Juliet.
After a brief wedding ceremony the
young couple go their separate ways.
Juliet returns alone to her parents’
house.
8. the square - evening
The celebrations are in full swing. Since
the ball Tybalt is bent on avenging
himself on Romeo and picks a quarrel
with Mercutio. Romeo, now bound by
family ties to Tybalt, tries to intervene
between the two. But Tybalt kills
Mercutio and, in a moment of passionate
fury at the death of his best friend,
Romeo stabs Tybalt to death.
act three
9. juliet’s bedroom
Banished from Verona after Tybalt’s
death, Romeo has secretly spent his
wedding night with Juliet. As day
dawns Romeo must flee the city.
Unaware that she has married Romeo, Juliet’s
parents have made hasty preparations for her
wedding to Paris. Juliet unsuccessfully tries to
dissuade them and, in desperation, leaves the
house to seek the help of Friar Lawrence. As she
rushes to Friar Lawrence’s chapel, she encounters
the ghosts of Mercutio and Tybalt, which
seems to presage her own inescapable fate.
10. the chapel
Friar Lawrence gives Juliet a potion which will
bring about a temporary semblance of death. He
tells her that after burial in the family tomb, she
will awaken and that Romeo, duly forewarned of
the circumstances, will come to take her away.
11. juliet’s bedchamber
Arriving back at her home, Juliet finally agrees to
marry Paris. Left alone she drinks the potion. The
wedding day dawns and she is discovered apparently
dead.
12. the capulet tomb
Friar Lawrence’s message has failed to reach
Romeo and he has returned in secret to Verona.
Believing Juliet to be dead, he is overcome with
grief and kills himself. On awakening from her
sleep and seeing Romeo dead at her feet, Juliet
decides to join her loved one in death.
9
roman artyushkin