This show is full of interesting, innovative ideas – arguably too many.  It is also characterised by naturalistic acting, fine verse-speaking and (mostly) clear story-telling coaxed by director, Yohann Philip from many cast members. Charlotte Holmes, in this gender-blind show, gives us, for example, an outstanding Mercutio. Totally believable, louche, jokey and vulnerable, she is as good as anyone I’ve ever seen in this role especially during her drunken Queen Mab speech.

So what – you might have been wondering all your life – did Capulet and Montague fall out about in the first place? In this version they were close friends, Londoners, who went into business together until they quarrelled and opened two rival fast food businesses which sit at either side of the stage and give us a lot of pre-show vibrance. When the expositional brawl breaks out in the opening scene it’s between fast food staff in baseball or chef hats goading and  attacking each other with brooms by the wheely bins. It actually works pretty well although inevitably it throws up narrative discrepancies later in the play.

Maddy Jones, for example, is a laid back, blue haired druggie in a Sex Pistols tee shirt which is hard to reconcile with the religious authority she still, apparently, has. Romeo (Edward Godfrey) addresses her as “Holy Father” which jars. And, even having reflected on it overnight, I still have no idea why she gets arrested mid-play but continues to dish out dangerous drugs while in police custody.

Godfrey’s Romeo is suitably young, lithe and attractive enough for a girl like Juliet (Gina Cormack) to fall for him at first sight. This production is pretty faithful to Shakespeare’s text (even when it works against the directorial concept) and Cormack, whose character gets the play’s best poetry, speaks the lines with  exceptional dewy eyed conviction. She does well with Juliet’s rapid transition from a young innocent to a woman of mature determination too.

David Frost’s Capulet – every inch a Londoner – is excellent,  especially in the scene in which he loses his temper with his daughter and curses her and I liked Tania Pais’s gentle intelligent take on the nurse.  And watch out for Maddy Baskerville whose delightful Benvolio gets all the appropriate chattiness, intelligence and concern perfectly.  Louise Norman’s Prince is strong too, especially in the opening prologue which is framed as a live-filmed TV interview on the street.

Frost doubles as lead singer of the four piece rock band which from time to time lines the back of the stage and he both sings and plays guitar with great accomplishment. Nonetheless there is too much of this in this show. They play very well but it doesn’t add much to the thrust of the drama. Moreover, Anne-Lise Vassoille’s “atmospheric” sound track which starts and stops rather bumpily in places becomes an irritant. This is a play, not a film, and the words tell you all you need to know.

I was also uneasy about Romeo and Juliet’s big wedding party. It provides an excuse for more band numbers but the whole point was that it was a secret wedding. That’s why Capulet could insist that Juliet now, after the death of Tybalt (Emike Umolu), must marry Paris (Daniel Aarons). Then there’s the conceit that we’re being whisked to different parts of London on the Tube, complete with dead pan announcements to tell us where we are. It was quite funny the first time although the point of it passed me by initially and it wears thin after a while.

Other high spots included the witty inclusion of Macbeth quotes in the scene in which the servants clear up after the Capulet party. The use of dramatic dance (choreographed by Tanisha Knight) to evoke the depth of passion between Romeo and Juliet is imaginative.  And, as is fashionable these days, Shakespeare’s text is decorated with occasional modern expressions. I liked, for instance, the messenger telling Friar Lawrence that he couldn’t deliver the message to Romeo because he’d had to “self isolate”.

Yes, despite the flaws and inconsistencies there’s much to enjoy in this production.

First published by Sardines: https://www.sardinesmagazine.co.uk/review/romeo-and-juliet-5/