Image: Joseph Taylor by Kyle Baines
Northern Ballet will bring their award-winning Romeo & Juliet to Mayflower Theatre from Thursday 3 to Saturday 5 October 2024, inviting audiences to rediscover the iconic love story like it’s the very first time.
We caught up with Northern Ballet Premier Dancer Joseph Taylor, who plays Romeo in Romeo & Juliet, to get a taste of what’s to come ahead of the show’s arrival.
What can audiences expect when they come and see Romeo & Juliet?
Audiences can expect to be taken on a rollercoaster of emotions. One of the most famous love stories of all time is in fact a tragedy and within a couple of hours Northern Ballet brings this turbulent story to life with passion, a sense of realism and beauty.
How well do the dancers need to know, or study, the original Shakespeare script as well as learning the ballet?
We worked with Sir Gregory Doran, former Director of The Royal Shakespeare Company to study and learn more from Shakespeare’s text. It was great to delve deeper into an understanding of the story and the complexities of relations between key characters.
Once we started to put scenes from the ballet together with choreography it was nice to see some of the pages of the play coming to life and also to notice where certain movements of steps were inspired from.
What is your favourite dance from the show?
The ‘dance of the Knights’ has possibly the most iconic music of Prokofiev’s score, but I would have to say that the duet between Romeo and Juliet at her balcony is my favourite part to perform. It is also the emotional highlight before things begin to fall to pieces.
You use real swords in the show, is that fun?
I would say it’s fun now that we are rehearsed and have performed a few weeks of tour. However, during the early rehearsal period it was quite dangerous and scary. I dance both roles of Romeo and Tybalt so I have to be able to reverse the entire lightning fast fight scenes in my head from show to show and that requires a lot of concentration.
What is your favourite love story?
The story of Cathy and Heathcliff in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. Maybe I’m just obsessed with Northern Ballets excellent production of this story.
How often do you have to rehearse?
We spent about eight weeks putting four casts of Romeo & Juliet together (we alternate casts each performance). Now we have to rehearse daily to maintain all of our quality and stamina on the production whilst at the same time, preparing for the many other ballets we will perform over the next seven months.
How many ballet shoes do you go through?
I wear lace up leather boots for Romeo that take me at least 5 minutes to get on and they should last we me the entire tour but often need repairing.
What is your pre-show ritual?
I have to refuel my body with a carb heavy meal at least 2.5 hours before the show, make sure I get some decent rest and then a shower to warm up my body again, before I turn into Romeo with my costume and make up.
Then I had to the stage 45 minutes before the show starts to stretch and get my body moving and ready for what it is about to go through emotionally and physically.
If you could dance in any show, what would it be?
The answer to this question would require me to be able to sing, and unfortunately I do not have this talent, but I love the musical Miss Saigon. So maybe I’ll just have to stick to performing in the shower or being an audience member.
What are the demands of being on tour?
Seven shows a week is not easy. I have been with Northern Ballet for almost 12 years and it doesn’t get any easier. It’s physically draining and each show I’m looking to go out there and perform my best, but it’s this challenge that keeps us coming back for more as artists. To take the audience on this ride with us and hear the reaction at the end makes it all worth it.
How do you look after yourself performing multiple nights in a row?
Eat, sleep, dance, repeat. This is the formula. As long as I fuel my body with carbohydrates and refuel with proteins I know I have the energy for the shows. I stay hydrated always and stay strict with myself about getting at least eight hours of sleep.
Tickets for Northern Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet (Thursday 3 – Saturday 5 October2024) are on sale at mayflower.org.uk or 02380 711811.
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