“The world’s greatest ballet company performs the world’s greatest love story at the O2” says the producer

Ok, maybe he's going a bit over the top, but being that there are more than 20,000 seats to shift for each performance Raymond Gubbay needs to pull out all the stops.

The Royal Ballet is thrilled to announce that it will dance a specially produced production of Romeo and Juliet at The O2 arena in June 2011.

reads the press release.

It will be the first time the world-renowned ballet company has danced in a UK arena and, in order to fully celebrate the occasion, there will be up to 2000 specially-priced £10 tickets at every performance. An all star cast of Royal Ballet dancers including Carlos Acosta, Tamara Rojo, Alina Cojocaru, Johan Kobborg, Edward Watson and Mara Galeazzi will dance the roles of the famous starcrossed lovers for five shows, which will include a schools matinée.

The whole of the main floor of the arena will be sold on a first-come-first-served basis and means that some lucky audience members will have front row seats for only £10. Top price tickets for the shows will be just £60. The Royal Ballet, usually based at the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden, will move lock, stock and barrel into the arena for these special performances which will include a filmed introduction to each Act, ensuring that everyone can follow the action as it unfolds on stage and on giant, live-relay screens.

Dame Monica Mason, Director of The Royal Ballet said of the announcement:

I am delighted that The Royal Ballet is going to have this opportunity to showcase its talent on such a huge scale. The dancers at The Royal Ballet are some of the best in the world and are all at the absolute height of their talent. Romeo and Juliet is a signature work of the Company and the prospect of bringing it to The O2 to share with audiences on such an unprecedented scale is incredible.”

The Royal Opera House's Chief Executive Tony Hall continued:

This opportunity fits perfectly with our commitment to ensuring that as wide an audience as possible is able to enjoy live performances by The Royal Ballet at affordable prices.  I hope that people of all ages will enjoy seeing the Company at The O2 with the added benefit of big screens for a really close up experience.”

The Royal Ballet is presenting the shows in association with theatre promoter Raymond Gubbay, who added:

Having presented the first opera production to The O2 earlier this year, I am absolutely delighted to be working with The Royal Ballet on bringing their wonderful production of Romeo and Juliet to the arena next June. With tickets from just £10, the four performances provide a marvelous opportunity to develop a whole new audience for ballet.”

David Campbell, CEO of AEG Europe, owners and operators of The O2, commented:

“We are thrilled to be hosting our first ballet, specially produced for The O2, and give a wider audience the opportunity to enjoy the magic of The Royal Ballet.  At The O2 we strive to bring new experiences to our visitors and I have no doubt this will be a truly exceptional event for our venue.”

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.