Last Updated on April 9, 2026
A Look-Ahead to a Sunny, Joyous Ballet
Undoubtedly one of the sunniest, most joyous and amusing ballets in Birmingham Royal Ballet’s repertoire, Don Quixote is weaving its magic across the UK in a tour that will end at Sadler’s Wells in late April.
BRB dance Carlos Acosta’s vibrant, boisterous production of the 19th century classic Don Quixote, full of cod-Spanish jollity, castanets, flounces, on-stage musicians and butch matadors, where virtuoso ballet dancing alternates with lyrical interludes. It is a flowing, uplifting spectacle, one that invariably sends audiences home with a spring in their step.
Danced to a score by the ever-obliging Ludwig Minkus, the ballet is loosely, very loosely, in fact, inspired by a minor episode in Miguel de Cervantes’s eponymous 17th-century masterpiece. Cervantes’s Don Quixote debunks the then-popular chivalric romances by focusing on the hapless titular Don’s frustrated attempts to perform great deeds of chivalry, while searching for his ideal woman, Dulcinea, accompanied by his faithful servant, the long-suffering Sancho Panza.
In the ballet, Don Quixote rides into a village atop a makeshift version of his nag Rocinante and comes upon the lovers: Kitri, daughter of the village tavern owner, and the penniless barber Basilio. Kitri is feisty and resourceful and very determined to marry Basilio despite her father’s vehement opposition; the irrepressible Basilio is equally determined to win his girl.
To complicate matters, Kitri’s father wants her to marry the rich fop Gamache, one of the various figures of fun in the ballet, another being the forever hungry Sancho Panza, whose antics provide a counterpart to Don Quixote’s exaggeratedly dignified demeanour.
Don Quixote will eventually prove instrumental in bringing about Kitri and Basilio’s happy ending, but not before the lovers run away, stop at a gypsy camp and, later, at a tavern, where the ever dramatic Basilio feigns a spectacular death; and Don Quixote gets hit over the head by the sail of one of the windmills he’s chasing and falls into a dream, where Kitri becomes his Dulcinea in a realm populated by diaphanous maidens, the Dryads.
Eventually, love wins the day, and the final Act III celebrates Kitri and Basilio’s wedding – ‘celebrates’ being the operative word for an Act full of love, dancing and all-out fiesta.
Carlos Acosta created his production of Don Quixote for The Royal Ballet in 2013, and starred in the ballet’s first run as an irresistible Basilio, alongside Marianela Núñez, the perfect Kitri. He mostly followed Petipa’s original choreography, but added his own, namely for the gypsy scene in Act II.
However, Tim Hatley’s original designs, though beautiful to look at, were far too busy, as indeed, for all its glorious dancing, was the production.
With Birmingham Royal Ballet relying to a large extent on touring, when Acosta became BRB Artistic Director and brought Don Quixote into its repertoire, the staging had to undergo significant streamlining, with Tim Hatley providing new ‘tourable’ designs. The current version, stripped of its original excesses, is infinitely better.
The ballet offers both ensemble and soloists plenty of opportunities to shine. All roles are challenging: Kitri’s boisterous choreography, with extensive pointe work, split jetés and the skilful use of castanets and a fan, lives side by side with the lyrical dancing of a young woman in love; Basilio’s demands bravura dancing as well as good partnering and considerable acting ability.
Among the soloist roles, Espada, the lead matador, and the street dancer Mercedes must bring convincing heat and desire to their pas de deux.
The head of the gypsy clan gets the chance to show off his virtuoso technique; Amor in the Dryads’ vision scene is an impish, fast-moving role that can be performed by either a female or a male dancer.
So, now that Spring appears finally to have sprung, why not add an extra ray of sunshine to your day with an outing to Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Don Quixote?
BRB Don Quixote tours to The Mayflower Theatre, Southampton, 15 – 18 April
and to Sadler’s Wells Angel 23 – 25 April
Sadler’s Wells Angel
Rosebery Avenue
London EC1R 4TN
Check out our London Dance Previews – January to July 2026
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