John Cranko’s ballet adaptation of Alexander Pushkin’s verse-novel is set to music by Tchaikovsky and features finely drawn characters who are transformed by the conflicts they face.

Onegin tells the story of sensitive Tatiana, who is coldly rejected by the dashing Eugene Onegin after declaring her love for him. Instead he idly flirts with her sister Olga, enraging her fiancé and Onegin’s only friend, Lensky, who challenges Onegin to a duel.

Onegin and Tatiana’s relationship is depicted in intense duets, with Cranko’s choreography incorporating an eclectic range of dance forms including folk, modern, ballroom and acrobatic.

Cranko became acquainted with Pushkin’s verse-novel Eugene Onegin when he choreographed the dances for Tchaikovsky’s opera of the same name in 1952. In 1965 he created his own distinctive version of the work for the Stuttgart Ballet.

Learn more about London operas within the West End.