Henry: A big part of MacMillan’s choreography for Romeo and Juliet is his use of the sword fights between the Capulet family men and the Montague family men.

Olivia: Hey it’s not just you guys fighting!! We might not have swords but we have brooms and fists and we fight too ….

Henry: Oh yeah that’s true….MacMillan realised that the feud between these two important families would be, without a doubt, played out with real swords and aggression.

Olivia: You should see them – all that testosterone…all those boys playing with swords… they try to act cool – but secretly they all love it!

Henry: The choreography for this aspect of the ballet has to be incredibly realistic but at the same time easy enough for non-swordsmen to pick up and do.

Olivia: Yeah, you just about cope…

Henry: Well yes but that’s not the point. This is where the expertise of our sword master comes in. To have up to twenty five men on stage at once waving sharp swords around would, without his assistance, be dangerous.

Olivia: It is really dangerous! – When you are a townsperson you have to be careful of the flying swords around you while beating the harlots away from your husband….

Henry: Have we ever hit any of you?

Olivia: Actually yes! On the arm…

Henry: Oh yeah, forgot about that! We are coached every time we put on Romeo in the use of the sword but invariably there are a few accidents with broken swords and bloodied arms….

Olivia: There you go!

Henry: The fight routines are choreographed so intricately that they seem so un-rehearsed and realistic. Actually they are a series of set routines that are spliced together and interspersed with a couple of random swipes!

Olivia: Which can be pretty wayward…

Henry: We’ve often invited people to performances of Romeo and these fights are always commented upon, especially the long and exciting fight between Romeo and Tybalt at the end of act two after Tybalt has killed Romeo’s best friend, Mercutio.

Olivia: Tybalt kills Mercutio?! You have just ruined it for thousands of people!

Henry: I think the story is quite well known Liv. For the rest of you – look out for these exciting fights!

Olivia: Joking aside – they are really quite exciting and the boys work really hard to get them right. Sometimes on stage you just want to stand back and watch – it is very beautiful choreography as well as realistic. In fact, that’s what makes it one of my favourite ballets.