Productions

Prokofiev’s ballet based on Shakespeare’s timeless love story

Composer Sergei Prokofiev
Musical director & conductor Taavi Kull
Choreographer and director Petr Zuska (Czech National Opera)
Artist Jan Dušek
Costume artist Pavel Knolle
Lighting designer Pavel Dautovský
On the stage Vanemuine ballet soloists and troupe, Vanemuine Symphony Orchestra

Queen Mab appears at night, sneaks into our dreams and, while we are asleep, mixes a cocktail of fantastic stories. Have you not met her? Mercutio tells Romeo: “I see, Queen Mab hath been with you.” Queen Mab is the driving force of the action: “… she comes in shape no bigger than an agate stone on the forefinger of an alderman, drawn with a team of little atomi over men’s noses as they lie asleep.”

What happens after Queen Mab appears in Romeo’s dream? William Shakespeare’s tragic love story has been touching the hearts of audiences for centuries. Sergey Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet had its world premiere in Czechoslovakia, in 1938 at the National Theatre in Brno, and has ever since adorned the repertoire of all the world’s large stages.