The Royal Opera House presents...

Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers encounter passion and tragedy in Kenneth MacMillan’s 20th-century ballet masterpiece.

Romeo and Juliet fall passionately in love, but their families are caught up in a deadly feud. They marry in secret, but tragic circumstances lead Romeo to kill Juliet’s cousin Tybalt in a fight. As punishment, Romeo is banished from Verona.

Juliet’s parents try to force her to marry Paris, so she resorts to drastic action. She drinks a sleeping potion that will feign death, a deception that will enable her to escape and join Romeo. But her message explaining this fails to reach Romeo. On hearing of her reported death, he secretly returns to Verona and her tomb, where he kills himself. When Juliet wakes it is to discover Romeo dead. Devastated, she stabs herself.