Manon (The Royal Ballet 26/27)
A captivating ballet about a young woman who must choose between true love and a life of wealth and luxury.
In the shadowy underworld of 18th-century Paris, money rules everything. Nothing is sacred anymore; even love is for sale, as long as the price is high enough. Manon, born and raised in this hedonistic underworld, is torn by her conflicting feelings when she falls in love with the student Des Grieux. He is loyal and devoted and offers her the prospect of a respectable life. But the opulence that Parisian high society has to offer remains alluring…
Manon’s inner conflict and her struggle to survive are at the heart of Kenneth MacMillan’s 1974 adaptation of Abbé Prévost’s novel. In this iconic production by The Royal Ballet, MacMillan’s nuanced insight into human psychology offers an unflinching look at the moral decline of Manon’s Paris, bringing all its decadence and decay to life through the music of Jules Massenet and the designs of Nicholas Georgiadis.
