THE best-known love story of all time brought tragedy, emotion and a sprinkling of humour to Cardiff’s Wales Millennium Centre.

Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet, performed by Birmingham Royal Ballet, which is celebrating its 20th year, was performed spectacularly to Prokofiev’s music.

The evening began with a fight scene illustrating the rivalry and tension between the Montagues and Capulets, which was performed through a series of graceful sword fights between pairs of characters – adding percussion to the music.

Ambra Vallo, playing Juliet, danced with a vulnerable innocence, at times bringing out her character’s immaturity and headstrong nature.

Romeo, danced by César Morales, brought out the emotion of finding his lover, presumably dead, by dancing with her corpse, and his enemy, Tybalt, danced by Robert Gravenor, oozed authority and grace.

Mathias Dingman, playing Romeo’s friend Mercutio, brought humour to the production during his tomfoolery at the spectacular masked ball and a mixture of emotions through his over-the-top death.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening, and the only element of the production worthy of fault was that there were overly-long breaks between some scenes, as scenery was changed.