This week Hermione, Kat and (we've brought her back) Clara discuss the 2025/26 season at the Royal Ballet and Opera. We go through what ballets are on, when, and what they are all about.

In order & links:

A Single Man, September 2025

Like Water For Chocolate, October 2025

La Fille Mal Gardée, November 2025 & June 2026

Perspectives, Balanchine, Marston & Peck, November 2025

Nutcracker, November 2025: The Nutcracker at the Royal Opera House, full ballet

Woolf Works, January 2026

Giselle, February 2026

Mayerling, March 2026: Documentary on the making of Mayerling, Mayerling full ballet 2024, Paris Opera

Wayne McGregor, Alchemies, April 2026

This week Kat, Hermione ... and a special guest (!) Clara talk about the origins of ballet from the 1400s in mercantile Italy to the English 1600s and the king that brought back partying (and ballet). It turns out, ballet in these early periods is much like a Mamma Mia immersive experience where everyone got involved, there was dance, there was singing, there were outrageous costumes, and much more. This episode tells us how we get closer to the art form that we know and love, from the rigid structure of baroque dance.

This week Hermione and Kat are covering the classic ballet Romeo and Juliet, choreographed by Kenneth Macmillan in 1965. It's one of the most technically gruelling, emotionally cathartic and visually beautiful ballets out there, and is absolutely perfect if you have never seen any ballet before.

What we're talking about in this episode:

- Background and plot of Romeo & Juliet, its origins, adaptions, positives and negatives

- How Macmillan's version came to be, and the drama about casting

- The story behind the iconic pairing of Margot Fonteyn with Rudolf Nureyev

Links:

Young RBO

Margot Fonteyn & Rudolf Nureyev in Romeo and Juliet, full performance