These Violent Delights

With These Violent Delights, Scottish Ballet’s artistic director Christopher Hampson and filmmaker Oscar Sansom team up for a bold reimagining of Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare’s tragedy has been told and retold time and time again, yet Hampson and Sansom put a spellbindingly novel spin on the familiar tale of forbidden romance.

Opening with a trail of dead rose petals leading to Juliet’s (Kayla-Maree Tarantolo) coffin, the production rewinds through dance. The tragic heroine is captured through a fisheye lens in the grand stairwell of the Capulet mansion, an ordinary girl desperately fending off her family’s controlling grasp. This gilded setting and the elaborate attire of the Capulet family (including gaudy Versace shirts) contrast with Juliet’s casualwear, consisting of an oversized shirt over a plain tee and slacks. From there, every scene transition unveils a new, yet each markedly unique, aesthetic setting: a floral tablescape plucked from a Pinterest mood-board; a club scene with elaborately punky, Vivienne Westwood-esque costumes; a misty woodland scene that evokes the photography of Tim Walker. It’s a technique which the directors use to full effect.

It has a music video quality, which is unsurprising given Sansom’s collaborations with some of Scotland’s biggest musical acts, including Belle and Sebastian, Idlewild and Biffy Clyro. Several of the scenes have a driving club beat, which is the weakest element of the picture. Though it works in certain settings, the music isn’t as emotive as the visual aesthetic.

This is by no means a straight retelling of the story, but it captures the main themes of the play while also delving deeper into Juliet’s psyche and her identity, a rich resource that had remained untapped in previous retellings. It’s undoubtedly refreshing to see Juliet as the principal protagonist and the chosen narrator. In fact, she and Romeo (Ishan Mahabir-Stokes) barely share any screen time, with the film positing that Juliet’s sorrow has more to do with her loss of autonomy as a woman and, perhaps all along, that powerlessness was never really defined by her romance with Romeo. Tarantolo is hypnotic in the lead role, her eyes deeply expressive in the absence of dialogue.

This reimagining of Romeo and Juliet is a feast for the eyes. With a cascade of resplendent set pieces and an enthralling performance from Tarantolo, These Violent Delights is a majestic, unwaveringly evocative feat.

Antonia Georgiou

These Violent Delights is released nationwide on 21^st October 2026.

Watch the trailer for These Violent Delights here: