The Royal Ballet 2023/24 Season, Autumn period

There's much to enjoy in the Autumn period of The Royal Ballet's 2023/24 season. We list below all the shows on offer, starting with performances on the Main Stage:

• Don Quixote: Saturday 30 September to Friday 17 November at 7:30pm. Sat performances at 1pm and 7pm. Dur.: 3 hours inc two intervals. Tickets: £9 – £150
Carlos Acosta's boisterous production of the story of triumphant love in sunny Spain, set to Minkus's vivacious music, offers a suitably jolly opening to the season, with plenty of opportunities for both soloists and corps to show their mettle. Royal Ballet royalty Vadim Muntagirov and Marianela Núñez lead on opening night as Basilio and Kitri; throughout the run there's a variety of interesting casts, including William Bracewell and Fumi Kaneko (pictured top). FULL PREVIEW HERE
BOOKING here.

• Anemoi/The Cellist: Friday 20 October to Thursday 2 November at 7:30pm. Dur.: 2 hours inc one interval. Tickets: £4 – £10

Lauren Cuthbertson and Marcelino Sambé in The Cellist, The Royal Ballet ©2020 ROH. Photo: Bill Cooper

RB principal Lauren Cuthbertson returns from maternity leave to reprise the role of Jacqueline du Pré, alongside Marcelino Sambé in an entrancing performance as The Instrument in The Cellist, choreographer Cathy Marston's homage to du Pré, with Matthew Ball as her husband Daniel Barenboim. A second cast takes over on alternate performances.

The programme opens with the return of dancer Valentino Zucchetti's first choreography for the main stage, Anemoi. Set to music by Rachmaninov and created for the lower ranks of the company, this is an impeccably classic ballet shot through with the energy and flow of youth. FULL PREVIEW HERE
BOOKING here.

• The Dante Project: Saturday 18 November to Saturday 2 December at 7:30pm, Sat eves at 7pm, Saturday 2 December mat at 1pm. Dur.: 2 hours 45 mins inc two intervals. Tickets: £7 – £130

Akane Takada and Matthew Ball in The Dante Project, The Royal Ballet ©2021 ROH. Photo: Andrej Uspenski
Wayne McGregor's award-winning interpretation of Dante's The Divine Comedy, The Dante Project is a massive collaborative work with a stunning score by Thomas Adés, sets and costumes by Tacita Dean, lighting by Lucy Carter and dramaturgy by Usma Ameed. It's a glorious work that takes the poet figure through hell, purgatory and paradise – and the audience along with him. FULL PREVIEW HERE
BOOKING here.

• The Nutcracker: Wednesday 6 December to Wednesday 13 January 2024 – eves and mats starting times vary. Dur.: 2 hours 20 mins inc one interval. Tickets £8 – £160

Gary Avis as Herr Drosselmeyer in The Nutcracker, The Royal Ballet ©2022. Photo: Asya Verzhbinsky
If it's Christmas, the stage unquestionably belongs to The Nutcracker, complete with snowflakes, flowers, mice and toy soldiers, the mysterious Herr Drosselmeyer, a Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier, and a young girl's dreamy travels in the company of her much-cherished nutcracker doll. Not forgetting, of course, Tchaikovsky's gorgeous score. FULL PREVIEW HERE
BOOKING here.

LINBURY THEATRE

• The Limit: Friday 20 to Saturday 28 October at 7:30pm, Sat mat at 14:30. Dur.: 1 hour. Tickets £5 - £45
Sam Steiner collaborates with director Ed Madden and choreographer Kirsten McNally to turn his acclaimed and award-winning play Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons into a playful and romantic work of dance-theatre with an original score by Isobel Waller-Bridge. Francesca Hayward and Alexander Campbell are the lead pair, alternating with the second cast of Hannah Rudd and Jacob Wye.
BOOKING here.

• The Northern Ballet, Generations: Three Short Ballets – Tuesday 31 October to Thursday 2 November at 7:45pm. Thur mat at 2pm. Dur.: 2 hours inc two intervals. Tickets: £5 – £45
Leeds-based Northern Ballet, under the directorship of former Royal Ballet principal Federico Bonelli, returns to the Linbury with an enticing triple bill of contemporary work, including a new piece by Royal Ballet dancer Benjamin Ella, New York City Ballet star ballerina Tyler Peck's first work for a European company, and the masterful Adagio Hammerklavier by the unquestionable master of Dutch ballet, Hans van Manen. FULL PREVIEW HERE
BOOKING here.

• Fallen Angels Dance Theatre, New Work: Saturday 4 November at 7:45pm. Dur.: 1 hour 30 mins no interval. Tickets: £5 – £25
Fallen Angels Dance Theatre supports those recovering from addiction or mental health issues, helping them to transform their lives and share their recovery journey, through dance, performance and creativity. In this work the company collaborates with New Note Orchestra, a Brighton-based collective of 18 musicians in recovery.
The performance is complemented by an Insight on Sunday 5 November, providing the background to the work of this company, which is led by artistic director Paul Bayes Kitcher, former Birmingham Royal Ballet soloist. FULL PREVIEW HERE
BOOKING here.

• Ballet Black, Pioneers: Thursday 16 to Sunday 19 November at 7:45pm. Sun at 3pm only. Dur.: 1 hour 45 mins inc one interval. Tickets: £5 - £45
Ballet Black returns to the Linbury with its latest double bill, made up of choreographer Will Tuckett's Then and Now, an emotional and urgent evocation of American poet and feminist campaigner Adrienne Rich, and Nina: By Whatever Means, company dancer and choreographer Mthuthuzeli November's vibrant homage to the great Nina Simone. FULL PREVIEW HERE
BOOKING here.

CLORE STUDIO

• Yorke Dance Project, Sea of Troubles – Tuesday 10 October at 19:00. Dur.: TBC. Tickets: £25
Yorke Dance Project in association with The Royal Ballet marks World Mental Health Day with a new film of the little known but tremendously powerful 1988 work by Kenneth MacMillan, Sea of Troubles. It retells Hamlet's tale of despair, revenge and madness from the point of view of the haunted prince. The ballet has been danced at the ROH before; now it's immortalised on film, shot at the historic Hatfield House.
Booking here.