Giselle
Giselle
Giselle
A love that haunts.
Experience the quintessential Romantic ballet Giselle in Peter Wright’s atmospheric and bewitching production.
Experience the quintessential Romantic ballet Giselle in Peter Wright’s atmospheric and bewitching production.
Royal Ballet and Opera Principal Julia Rausing Trust
John Burns CBE and Susan Burns OBE, Philipp Freise, Kenneth and Susan Green, Doug and Ceri King, Lindsay and Sarah Tomlinson, the Fonteyn Circle and the Royal Opera House Endowment Fund
Aud Jebsen
Infatuation. Betrayal. Redemption?
The world turns upside down for the peasant girl Giselle when she discovers her lover Albrecht is actually a nobleman promised to another. In despair, she kills herself. Her spirit joins the Wilis, the vengeful ghosts of women who have been jilted and die before their wedding day. The Wilis are hell-bent on killing any man who crosses their path in a dance to the death. Wracked with guilt, Albrecht visits Giselle’s grave, where he must face the Wilis – and Giselle’s ghost. Will he survive?
Background
From earthly to otherworldly
Peter Wright’s production for The Royal Ballet was created in 1985. With designs by John Macfarlane and set to Adolphe Adam’s score, this production conjures up two distinctly vivid realms, transporting audiences from the pastoral idyll of Act I to the menacingly moonlit graveyard of Act II as the tragic story unfolds.
The quintessential Romantic ballet
The supernatural power of Giselle makes it one of the best balletic examples of the 19th-century Romantic genre. The plot’s themes of love, betrayal and redemption were inspired by Heinrich Heine’s De l’Allemagne and Victor Hugo’s poem Fantômes. The spectral beauty of the ballet is at its height during the Dance of the Wilis in Act II, where the Wilis gather around Giselle’s grave – also a moment of technical brilliance for the Company’s corps de ballet. Since its first performance in Paris in 1841, Giselle continues to captivate audiences worldwide.
Cast and Creatives
Cast
The cast of this production may vary depending on performance date. Go to cast and dates to see these.
Creatives
Reviews
Access
There is lift access and step-free routes to over 100 seats in the Stalls Circle, Balcony and Amphitheatre. There are 10 steps or fewer to some seats in the Stalls Circle, Balcony, Amphitheatre and the Donald Gordon Grand Tier. All seats in the Orchestra stalls are accessed by 9 steps or more. A handheld bell is rung by Front of House staff to signal guests to take their seats before a performance. The bell is loud and can be startling. The bell is rung approximately ten minutes before the show starts and at each interval.
We have an assistive listening system available to use.
Upcoming accessible performances:
There will be an Audio Described performance with a Touch Tour on 16 February and 28 February 2026. Touch Tours must be booked by contacting boxoffice@roh.org.uk for tickets.
Join our Access Scheme for priority access performance tickets and to personalise your account for your access requirements.
See our Accessibility page for more information on access at the Royal Opera House.
Pointe Shoe Appeal
Every season, The Royal Ballet dance through more than 6,000 pairs of pointe shoes—but that’s just the starts of what our dancers wear throughout the year.
With shoes in every style and colour, our footwear team works year-round to ensure that every dancer has the perfect fit, allowing them to step confidently onto the stage night after night. Help them perform to the best of their ability by making a donation to our Pointe Shoe Appeal.
For people, not profit. Making world class ballet and opera for everyone.
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