Royal Opera House, London
Running time: 3 hours
Age Restrictions: Content suitable for all. Children under the age of five are not permitted into our theatres. Children over the age of five must have their own ticket and sit next to an accompanying adult.
Tickets from £44.00
A princess cursed. A prince deceived. A love immortal. Classical ballet's most powerful story returns in Liam Scarlett’s spectacular production for The Royal Ballet, bringing together Tchaikovsky’s towering score and John Macfarlane’s picturesque designs.
Swan Lake was Tchaikovsky’s first score for ballet. Given its status today as arguably the best loved and most admired of all classical ballets, it is perhaps surprising that at its premiere in 1877, it was poorly received. It is thanks to the 1895 production by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov that Swan Lake has become part of not only ballet consciousness but also wider popular culture. That success is secured not only by the sublime, symphonic sweep of Tchaikovsky’s score, but also by the striking choreographic contrasts between Petipa’s royal palace scenes and the lyric lakeside scenes created by Ivanov. In popular culture, the premise of Swan Lake and the imagery associated with the ballet has inspired films such as Funny Girl (1968) and Black Swan (2010) and pop artists such as Taylor Swift.
Swan Lake has had a special role in the repertory of The Royal Ballet since 1934. Since then, there has been a succession of productions, the most recent of which was a new production created in 2018 with additional choreography by Liam Scarlett. Scarlett, while remaining faithful to the Petipa-Ivanov text, brought fresh eyes to the staging of this classic ballet, collaborating with designer John Macfarlane, who has also designed some of Scarlett’s other works. Macfarlane’s painterly sets and impressive costuming set the scene, providing the majestic backdrop for all the passion and deception of Swan Lake.
Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
Bow Street
London
WC2E 9DD
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in the London district of Covent Garden. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. Originally called the Theatre Royal, it served primarily as a playhouse for the first hundred years of its history. In 1734, the first ballet was presented. A year later Handel's first season of operas began. Many of his operas and oratorios were specifically written for Covent Garden and had their premieres there.
The current building is the third theatre on the site following disastrous fires in 1808 and 1857. The façade, foyer and auditorium date from 1858, but almost every other element of the present complex dates from an extensive reconstruction in the 1990s. The Royal Opera House seats 2,268 people and consists of four tiers of boxes and balconies and the amphitheatre gallery. The proscenium is 12.20 m wide and 14.80 m high. The main auditorium is a Grade 1 listed building.
Travel by train: Charing Cross. Nearest tube: Covent Garden
