Christopher Wheeldon’s new full-length ballet brings the magic realism of this famous modern Mexican novel to The Royal Ballet.

Thursday 02 - Friday 17 June.

A modern Mexican classic of magic realism provides the basis for The Royal Ballet’s new full-length work, reuniting Artistic Associate Christopher Wheeldon with the creative team who transformed Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Winter’s Tale into dance, composer Joby Talbot and designer Bob Crowley.

Journey into Laura Esquivel’s captivating family saga where the central character’s emotions spill out through cooking to influence everyone around her in startling and dramatic ways.

Tita lives with her family on a ranch in Mexico. She falls in love with a boy, Pedro, who lives nearby, but when they want to marry, family precedent prevents it: Tita must remain unmarried in order to care for her mother. Tita’s love for cooking is such that her own emotions are transmitted to others through the food she prepares, and as her moods change in response to events in her life, the consequences for all those around her become ever more startling… even fatal.

In this co-production with American Ballet Theatre, Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra acts as musical consultant for Talbot’s newly commissioned score, with Wheeldon working closely with Esquivel to reshape her richly layered story as an entertaining and engrossing new ballet.

Nominated for the FEDORA VAN CLEEF & ARPELS Prize for Ballet 2020.