Romeo and Juliet is clearly about the personal hatred existing between the two most powerful families in Verona, the Montaigus and the Capulets. It is also, of course, about the tragic fate of two innocent lovers. Thierry Malandain uses that mythical love story about love and death, while relying on Hector Berlioz's «Symphonie Dramatique», to lift the gravestone over a dream that was too beautiful.
With ‘Roméo et Juliette', Malandain builds on the music by Berlioz and fashions a modern tragedy with sharp insights. He artfully takes the story away form its historical context and its Shakespearean background. Romeo and Juliet are no longer romantic protagonists, they have become the emblem of a society which, throughout history, has been steeped in conflict. The quest for power rests on ambition, passion and desire.
The choreographer does away with any reference to time, makes no use of the theatre's wings and devises all entrances and exits through the back of the stage, in an optical illusion designed to make the dancers look as if they are moving in and out of large chests, the only props on stage. These chests in turn become coffins, nuptial beds, pieces of luggage, architectural elements and mirrors, giving us an insight into the soul beyond the image.
There are no dancers, no characters on stage, only people. People fighting or trying to bond. They all struggle for life, defending their own modicum of elegance and dignity.