Romeo und Julia

The world's most famous love story is set in an environment dominated by hostility and lack of freedom: "Where old hatred sets new rage on fire, where civil war is the highest civil happiness", says a modern translation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. In this gloomy world, where people only celebrate, love and live among their own kind, two young people from hostile families meet - and a love affair begins that breaks all the rules.
In his ballet music, Sergei Prokofiev follows the feelings of the characters with relentless consistency. The modernity of his score was unusual at first, but today it is considered a milestone: psychological depth, radical expression and differentiated orchestration merge into a musical force that enabled groundbreaking innovations in choreography and continues to challenge today.
Goyo Montero created his version of Romeo and Juliet in 2009 for the Nuremberg State Theater Ballet. For the Staatsballett Hannover, he is reworking his classic, which focuses on the emotions and development of the characters. For him, Juliet is "the first modern woman in literary history": with her youthful optimism, she seems at first to be able to change the world, makes confident decisions and yet in the end has to realize that the society in which she lives does not allow for change. Central to Montero's story is Queen Mab, who Shakespeare describes as a fairy and midwife of human dreams. This sounds romantic, but Mab brings nightmares and dark omens. In Montero's ballet, she becomes a playmaker, a narrator and a deadly fate.