Reimagining Shakespeare: New Productions of Romeo & Juliet and Hamlet

Leo Tolstoy refused to recognise Shakespeare ‘even as an average author,’ considering his work ‘trivial and positively bad’ and unable to satisfy ‘the most elementary demands of art’; Voltaire referred to the Shakespearean canon as ‘an enormous dunghill,’ its appeal inherent in only London and Canada; George Bernard Shaw vocalised his hatred of the Bard with gleeful antagonism, confessing the desire to ‘dig him up and throw stones at him.’ And yet, the essence of Shakespeare continues to infiltrate our stages and screens, exam papers and lecture halls, attracting programmers, producers, directors and playwrights on a universal scale.

From Olivier’s Oscar-winning Hamlet complete with traditional garb and setting, to contemporary adaptations such as Bernstein’s West Side Story and Lurhmann’s seminal Romeo + Juliet, Shakespeare’s work has been reimagined for over four centuries, traversing the realms of film, ballet, opera and art with a flexibility that remains unparalleled. As Benedict Cumberbatch’s approaching role as Hamlet at London’s Barbican becomes the most in-demand theatre production of all time (outstripping popularity for Beyoncé’s On the Run tour by 214%), Shakespeare continues to affirm his pertinence in a society 400 years his junior.

In the wake of his birthday celebrations, September sees two fresh adaptations of Shakespeare’s work: both daring and bold, both in Manchester, the first a unique rework that challenges context, setting and audience experience. The Grade II listed Victoria Baths plays host to a unique promenade performance of the greatest love story ever told, Romeo & Juliet. Three atmospheric Edwardian swimming pools are transformed into an Eastern European fairytale, complete with colourful characters, captivating visuals and live music, courtesy of Macedonian composer Nikola Kodjabashia.

“I have always wanted to direct Romeo & Juliet,” explains director Walter Meierjohann, perched on the descending tiled steps belonging to the Gala pool. “It is timeless: combining the colours of life in one play. I knew, however, that it needed to be a fresh production, to attract a young and expectant audience – so where to stage it?

“I had long imagined something urban and industrial for the play, but when I arrived in Manchester I struggled to find the right venue. I walked into the Baths by chance on a private tour and was astounded by its beauty. It changed my whole approach to the piece.”

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“Shakespeare thinks in contradictions; Victoria Baths is filled with contradictions” – Walter Meierjohann

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Quietly eerie and yet breathtakingly beautiful, Victoria Baths has its own colourful history that includes a passionate campaign to save the building, prompting over a decade of careful restoration. Armed with both the beauty of archaic stained-glass windows and the insidious air of a largely disused space, the Baths has a disarming potential that lends itself to Shakespeare’s tragedy – and Meierjohann clearly recognises it.

“Shakespeare thinks in contradictions; this building is filled with contradictions. These walls undoubtedly house the beauty of the play, yet you can also sense decay and degeneration: there is an authentic dialogue between the two.”  

Born in Amsterdam and raised in Holland, America and Germany, with an impressive array of international credentials that include positions at the Dresden State Theatre and the Residenztheater, Munich, Meierjohann’s Eastern European approach to the text is certainly intriguing and is perhaps as much influenced by his diverse cultural experiences as the space itself: “Romeo & Juliet is originally an Italian-set renaissance piece, and yet the Baths prompted me to think about the play differently. My mother is from Vienna and I know a lot of people from Hungary and Eastern Europe and the bathing tradition is important there. It all seemed to fit.”

Meierjohann was appointed artistic director of theatre at HOME in 2013 and has since embarked upon an ambitious site-specific prelude to the building’s official opening next spring. ANU’s Angel Meadow was the first production of the programme and was met with rapturous critical response, providing an immersive experience that explored the long-forgotten horrors of Manchester’s Ancoats. A vicarious and harrowing experience from the perspective of the Irish community who resided there, Angel Meadow challenged and provoked its audience, and Meierjohann’s Romeo & Juliet intends to do the same.

“By setting it here I am already challenging my audience. They will not be able to sit down and await a conventional theatre experience; this is not a conventional theatre space. I am trying to create a play in dialogue with the building.”

It is a savvy move: to take Shakespeare outside of the theatre immediately injects a sense of daring and unpredictability. But can the playwright's work be reinvigorated within the conventional theatre space? Manchester’s second Shakespearean offering thinks so.

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“It is important to be bold and not deal with a text as though it is sacred or reverential” – Sarah Frankcom

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Artistic director of the Royal Exchange Sarah Frankcom, directs a stirring and provocative adaptation of Hamlet – with Maxine Peake in the title role. Ladies and gentlemen, Hamlet is a woman.

“Hamlet has become the 'Everest' for male actors because it allows them to be vulnerable and honest with an audience in a way they rarely can,” begins Frankcom. “I was interested in what would happen if you flip that, allowing a female actor to explore power, murder and revenge.”

A noted theme in Shakespeare’s work – though more often than not employed for comedic effect – gender reversal is a concept that has been explored frequently, both inside the text and on the stage, with companies such as Smooth Faced Gentlemen gaining critical acclaim as an all-female Shakespeare ensemble. Casting a female in a notoriously masculine role may not be unprecedented, but it no doubt adds an unorthodox flavour to a familiar text.

“I think we need to be making theatre that is flexible to the world we live in now: when I look at a Shakespeare play I have to find a parallel with contemporary society,” Frankcom continues. “I think the female experience is quite particular in the shape the plays were written in so you have to make quite radical interventions to make them relevant now.”

But in making Shakespeare 'relevant' do we distort the original intention of the text? Is a play Shakespearean if you reimagine it entirely? Frankcom is unfazed by such insinuated accusations: “There is a long tradition in this country of performing Shakespeare at face value; of viewing his plays as a preserved text. Shakespeare was an actor and a writer and understood that each different production requires a similarly different interpretation. Cracking open a play and exploring its contemporary relevance may not necessarily be what Shakespeare intended but it is important to be bold and not deal with a text as though it is sacred or reverential.”

An Eastern European Romeo & Juliet and a female Hamlet may not have been what Shakespeare had in mind – but by reinventing his work, it is inadvertently preserved. Successful adaptation or not, that has to be a good thing.