A Winter’s Tale, the latest offering in a season of five famous ballets from The Royal Ballet company will be screened at Cinema Nouveau theatres from August 8. The season launched with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in March, Swan Lake in May, and Romeo and Juliet and La Fille mal gardée (The Wayward Daughter) in June.

The Winter’s Tale is a ballet in three acts, choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, with a score by Joby Talbot. A co-production between The Royal Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada, the ballet had its world premiere on April 10, 2014 at the Royal Opera House.

This ballet is only the second new full-length ballet commissioned at Covent Garden in the past 20 years, the first being Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, also choreographed by Wheeldon, which opened in 2011.

In this production, which is based on Shakespeare’s play of the same name, Wheeldon continues his highly successful collaboration with designer Bob Crowley and composer Talbot.

In the story, Leontes, King of Sicilia, conceives the notion that his wife Hermione has deceived him with his lifelong friend Polixenes, King of Bohemia, who has been a guest at the Sicilian court for nine months. Hermione gives birth to a daughter and Leontes, blinded by unreasoning jealousy, has his wife arrested for adultery and orders the baby to be abandoned.

Its themes of the destruction of marriage through consuming jealousy, the abandonment of a child, a seemingly hopeless love, remorse and regret, forgiveness and reconciliation, deliver powerful material for ballet.

It is a story that allows for the portrayal of intense emotions between and within the characters, and the opportunity for the company to create not just new central characters but a whole new world around them.

Lauren Cuthbertson, for whom the role of Alice was created, dances the role of Hermione, with Olivier Award-winning Edward Watson dancing Leontes. Sarah Lamb is Perdita, Steven McRae is Florizel, Zenaida Yanowsky is Paulina and Federico Bonelli dances Polixenes.

Kevin O’Hare, director of The Royal Ballet, says: “The Royal Ballet’s repertory is one of the largest and most varied of any major classical ballet company.

“While we continue to safeguard our great heritage works and refresh the classics, we also add new works from the foremost choreographers of today. We have programmed not one but two new full length productions this season, the first of which was Carlos Acosta’s new production of Don Quixote, and the second, Christopher Wheeldon’s The Winter’s Tale.

“Excitingly, both of these new ballets have been able to reach far beyond the auditorium of the Royal Opera House as part of our cinema season: we are delighted to be able to open up our doors and, through the means of cinema, internet and other digital channels, share our performances with a far greater audience all over the world.”

The Winter’s Tale can be seen on Saturday, August 8 at 7.30 pm, Sunday, August 9 at 2.30 pm, and at 7.30 pm on August 13 and 14 at Cinema Nouveau theatres in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town. The running time of this ballet production is two hours and 30 minutes, including two intervals.

• For booking information visit http://www.cinemanouveau.co.za or sterkinekor.mobi. Alternatively call TicketLine on 0861 Movies (668 437).
• View a video clip of The Royal Ballet’s performance of The Winter’s Tale here: https://youtu.be/57bRsLf6Ph4; and https://youtu.be/MS1cUOVpxyQ
• Listen to choreographer Christopher Wheeldon talk about  turning The Winter’s Tale into a ballet at https://youtu.be/JiweK8ci8rI
  

  THE WINTER’S TALE by Wheeldon, , choreography – Christopher Wheeldon, music – Joby Talbot, designs – Bob Crowley, The Royal Ballet, The Royal Opera House, 2014, Credit: Johan Persson/www.perssonphotography.com