Matthew Bourne's Romeo and Juliet, Sadler's Wells

When it comes to grabbing established tales by the scruff of neck and shaking them into an unexpected and hitherto unsuspected new shape, Matthew Bourne is on a plane of his own.

He’s the man who brought us a Swan Lake with a full complement of feral male swans, which at the same time passed comment on some of the most outlandish aspects of monarchy; who shifted Cinderella to World War II London and turned the original prince into a dashing fighter pilot; who gave Sleeping Beauty a vampiric twist; and subverted Carmen, the story of an ill-fated Seville gypsy, into Car Man, a dark ballet that owes a lot to the Hollywood noir of the 1940s and 50s, in particular The Postman Always Rings Twice.

And now we have Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet to look forward to. Do not expect a faithful retelling of Shakespeare’s tale; do expect a dark re-imagining of the story of Romeo and Juliet set in a future where all love is forbidden, and told through Bourne’s trademark choreography, a crowd-pleasing fusion of contemporary ballet and musical theatre.

And in keeping with the stated aim of Bourne’s company New Adventures, to support and promote the new generation of stage performers, Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet will feature young, up-and-coming dancers chosen through a national-wide auditions process. So, six local youngsters aged between 16 and 19 and still in training will feature in each venue of the production’s nationwide tour.

In addition, the roles of Romeo and Juliet will alternate between six New Adventures rising stars, and two new dancers discovered during the auditions process, who’ll be making their professional debuts in this work.

Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet will use the famous and much-loved Prokofiev score in a new orchestration by Terry Davies played live by the New Adventures Orchestra. Designs, on past experience bound to be stunning, are by Bourne’s regular collaboration Lez Brotherston.

The nationwide tour starts in Leicester in May 2019 and reaches London’s Sadler’s Wells in August. Tickets for the London season go on sale on 5 November.