Benson’s designs for Romeo and Juliet revealed a predominately monochrome palette. The dark forces exerted by the warring families influenced Benson’s imagery of a Renaissance society slowly crumbling at the edges.

Benson also found a way to use Renaissance heraldic animals – evidenced in the Carnival masks – to symbolize the animal-like brutality of the feud between the Capulets and the Montagues. 

< Previous  Next >

Top image credit: The National Ballet of Canada tutus on display. Photo by Setareh Sarmadi.