The Royal Opera House returns to John Cranko’s romantic tragedy Onegin for the ballet’s 60th anniversary, posing one question: can unrequited love turn into a mutual feeling?
The audience is transported to 1820s imperial Russia – the setting of Alexander Pushkin’s acclaimed novel in verse Eugene Onegin, on which the ballet is based – through the opulent, naturalistic set designed by Jürgen Rose. Tchaikovsky’s celestial score – reworked by the late Kurt-Heinz Stolze, who paid homage to the iambic tetrameter of the original verse – amplifies the rich atmosphere. In a flurry of sweeping chiffon skirts, Regency waistlines and tailcoats, the dandy Onegin (Reece Clarke), hopeless romantic Tatiana (Marianela Núñez), Tatiana’s younger sister Olga (Akane Takada) and Olga’s fiancé Lensky (William Bracewell) become entangled in a web of love, indifference, heartbreak and jealousy, leading to a fatal duel in defence of honour.
The dancers combine ballet, folk and ballroom in a kaleidoscopic choreography that creates an enchanting spectacle. The cast’s characterisation through gestures, expressions and gaits across all three acts can’t be faulted – and yet for those unfamiliar with the plot, the story is lost in the whirl of movement. Though technically and visually appealing, the composition fails to build a clear picture of the narrative and relationships between characters, despite the self-absorbed solos of Onegin and the romantic pas de deux between couples.
The repertoire has been reworked since Onegin’s 1965 premiere with the Stuttgart Ballet in Germany, which was condemned as a “failure” that, at its best, “depended greatly upon its excellent cast” for dramatic effectiveness. Sixty years later, the character’s motivations remain unclear, and the visual brilliance of the ballet is let down by its inability to capture Pushkin’s moving story of first love and regret.
Onegin
The Royal Opera House, London WC2. Until 12 June 2025
[See also: Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy makes for an inventive, genre-expanding ballet]
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This article appears in the 29 Jan 2025 issue of the New Statesman, Class War
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