About the work
Romeo und Julia is an evening-length narrative ballet by Cathy Marston after William Shakespeare's tragedy, set to the music of Sergei Prokofiev. It was premiered by Ballett Zürich on 23 May 2026 at the Opernhaus Zürich — the first collaboration between ballet director Marston and General Music Director Gianandrea Noseda. The scenario was written by Marston with Edward Kemp, with sets and costumes by David Fleischer. Marston condenses Prokofiev's four-act score into a two-act version running around two and a half hours.
Plot
Verona, a world where closeness and violence stand inseparably side by side: Romeo and Julia, children of feuding families, fall in love and are driven to their deaths by their houses' enmity. Marston tells the story beyond the usual clichés — entirely without swords or poison — foregrounding poetic images and precise characterisation, and giving space to secondary figures: Benvolio becomes a bold Benvolia, and Romeo's first infatuation Rosalind appears as a character in her own right. In split seconds, everything tips into its opposite — from love to violence, from desire to loss.
Cultural significance
With Cathy Marston's Romeo und Julia, Ballett Zürich brought a great classical narrative ballet into its repertoire in a fresh choreographic reading. Marston — director of Ballett Zürich since 2023 and internationally renowned for her narrative, literature-driven dance theatre — reinterprets the myth psychologically and with a rich cast of characters. Carried by Prokofiev's iconic score under Gianandrea Noseda, the production was enthusiastically received and taken into several following seasons.