Dream Mixed Bill

This Royal Ballet mixed programme opens with a classic by Frederick Ashton, based on Mendelssohn’s delicate score and the plot of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream. In a magical nocturnal world, Oberon and Titania play games with unwitting mortals, while the mischievous Puck intensifies love’s comic confusions. The ballet’s fleet footwork and gentle humour show Ashton at his brilliant best.

A new work for The Royal Ballet by Alastair Marriott is at the heart of the evening. Following last year’s successful ‘Trespass’ – with Christopher Wheeldon as part of Metamorphosis: Titian 2012 – Marriott’s fifth work for the Company on the main stage is an exciting collaboration with acclaimed designer Es Devlin and lighting designer Bruno Poet.

The programme ends in superb style with The Concert. This humorous, beautifully crafted ballet by Jerome Robbins is a superbly witty spoof of a classical music concert. As a pianist performs Chopin, the audience allow their minds to wander and their resulting fantasies take flight.