Giselle at Festival Theatre

This beautiful new staging of a much-loved ballet is produced by two superstar performers, Ethan Stiefel and Johan Kobborg (former principal dancers of American Ballet Theatre and The Royal Ballet respectively).

Disguise and revelation, love and jealousy combine in this tragic tale. A love story unfolds against the ghostly backdrop of a Rhineland forest haunted by the fearful presence of the “Wilis” - vengeful spirits of abandoned brides. The beautiful peasant girl, Giselle, falls for Albrecht who conceals his identity to win her. The discovery of her lover’s deception shatters Giselle’s innocence and causes her to die of a broken heart. Albrecht is thrown into the hands of the merciless Wilis, but Giselle cannot bear to watch him die and returns as a ghost to save him.

Giselle is the most dramatic and beautiful of ballets and the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s superb dancers make it a must-see of 2015.