Royal Ballet: Onegin review – Marianela Nuñez is a marvel of desperation and desire

A yellow moon peers out of a misty dawn sky. Two proud men and two distraught women gather for an encounter in which one man dies. With high jumps and stretched arabesques, arms shooting heavenwards, the women lever themselves over the men’s bodies in a futile, fevered effort to stop a tragedy unfolding.

The duel between Onegin and Lensky, witnessed by the sisters Tatiana (who loves Onegin) and Olga (engaged to Lensky), forms the centre point of John Cranko’s balletic retelling of Pushkin’s 1833 novel, and everything about the scene gives it weight. The ballet, 60 years old this year, is a masterpiece of compressed storytelling, every element – from Jürgen Rose’s sumptuous, subtly coloured designs to Kurt-Heinz Stolze’s adaptation of Tchaikovsky – working to create atmosphere and clear narrative.

The Royal Ballet dances it with a fine appreciation of its dramatic power, recognising how the intricate structure of its steps explains character and motivation. On opening night, Marianela Nuñez brought all her artistry and understanding to Tatiana, who falls for the arrogant Onegin (Reece Clarke) but grows up to reject him. In their first encounter, Cranko makes it clear that they are in different worlds: he stalks ahead of her, lost in self-admiration, while she traces thoughts in scurrying runs behind him.

As their relationship develops, Nuñez marks every nuance of change. At the homely dance where he rejects her adolescent advances, she uses the lightness of her turns to show her eddying emotions, pulled towards him and pushed back. In their final encounter, when he wraps himself around her feet, she makes her body limp in desperation and desire, but fierce in her need to escape.

Clarke responds with beautiful partnering and sharp jumps of his own. As Lensky, William Bracewell charts a sensitive course from his love for Olga (a delicate Akane Takada), playfully shaping his arms around hers in their first duet, through wounded anger to agony when he faces death. Lukas Bjørneboe Brændsrød is tender as Prince Gremin, the man who truly recognises Tatiana’s value. It’s outstanding.

• Onegin is at the Royal Opera House, London, until 25 February