Romeo & Juliet @ Theatre Royal, Glasgow
The RSC’s Romeo and Juliet has all the elements of the 400-year-old classic and even some new ones, but, although satisfying, it fails to fully realise its vision of a fresh and modern version
It takes real skill to make Shakespeare's classic Romeo and Juliet feel new and exciting. In this Royal Shakespeare Company production, director Erica Whyman focuses on the play’s violence by drawing parallels between the bloodshed depicted in the theatrical tragedy and contemporary knife crime. After all, while Romeo and Juliet is now synonymous with romance, this is a play as full of murder and hate as it is with love.
The youthfulness of the two star-crossed lovers is also emphasised, and in a nice touch the play opens with eight school children who read out the play’s immortal prologue: "Two households, both alike in dignity…" The diverse cast is representative of modern day Britain, whilst some of the traditionally male characters have been made female in this production, underscoring the play’s themes of toxic masculinity and its disastrous consequences. Bally Gill excellently conveys Romeo’s puppyish excitement at the start of the play, whilst Ishia Bennison shines as the bawdy Nurse. Karen Fishwick as Juliet, however, fails to stand out, which isn't helped by the fact that she wears monotone whites and blacks throughout the production whilst other characters such as the Nurse radiate colour and energy. Even the relationship between the two leads lacks a real sense of chemistry.
The play itself is uneven in its approach. On the one hand, it's boldly modern: the actors are dressed in modern clothing, and Tom Piper's design is a grey stage, bare but for a large box that serves, among other things, as Juliet’s balcony. Some of the older actors, however, especially Michael Hodgson as Juliet’s father, perform in a more traditional, histrionic manner, which jars with the approach taken by the younger actors such as Charlotte Josephine as a hyperenergetic Mercutio, who tries to normalise the rhythmic flow of Shakespeare’s language into everyday speech. Ayse Tashkiran's fight scenes are choreographed like dances, which in itself is not a bad thing, but it distracts from the pure ugliness of the play's violence. The RSC’s Romeo and Juliet has all the elements of the 400-year-old classic and even some new ones, but, although satisfying, it fails to fully realise its vision of a fresh and modern version.
Romeo & Juliet @ Theatre Royal, Glasgow, until Sat 23 Mar