'Romeo and Juliet' is one of William Shakespeare's, one of the greatest and most important playwrights that ever lived, most famous plays and also one of my favourites of his and overall. It is such a lovely, powerful story, that is the quintessential depiction of passionate love descending into tragedy perhaps, chock-full of iconic lines and speeches and characters hard to forget. When it comes to setting 'Romeo and Juliet' in the modern day, it does work as despite the specific setting the themes and situations are still relevant.
As has been said more than once over the years, there is no bias whatsoever against modern productions of operas, ballet and theatre. Have never been one of those people that sees that something is not traditional and automatically dismisses it, there have been plenty of concept/contemporary productions that work because they are in good taste and make sense. There is actually a good deal that this 'Romeo and Juliet' production does right (including the authenticity of the leads and their chemistry), but somehow it doesn't completely connect and would have benefitted with a less is more approach. Was expecting more from one of the world's leading Shakespeare/theatre companies, though the company did actually do worse than this (the Christopher Eccleston version of 'Macbeth' for example).
Shall start with what is done right with this 'Romeo and Juliet'. First and foremost, the two leads. How good the Romeo, the Juliet and their chemistry are pretty much makes or breaks a production and both Romeo and Juliet come off incredibly well (and equally so rather than one being better than the other). As does their chemistry. Karen Fishwick is a spirited and compassionate Juliet and never makes her passive, one of the few Juliets seen in recent memory to feel real and who also grows as a character. Bally Gill is a Romeo that is swaggering and ardent as well as believably youthful. Their chemistry is full of the necessary passion and beauty and a romance worth rooting for.
Other cast members come off well too. Namely Ishia Bennison's amusing and loyal Nurse and Andrew French's very composed and sympathetic Friar Laurence. Raphael Sowole has the necessary swagger and intense charisma for Tybalt. The final moments are moving and there is no denying the production's knockout energy.
It is a shame that the staging is the complete opposite of subtle and nuanced, actually found a lot of too much of a try too hard feel and too brash. Too many staging touches either don't add anything at all, what was the point of turning the ball scene a rave, or just didn't make sense. This was a case of the gender reversals not working and being too jarring with the text, gender reversals have worked in some Shakespeare productions (i.e. National Theatre's portrayal of Malvolio in 'Twelfth Night') but here it added absolutely nothing and took away from the play's meaning. Beth Cordingly was fine actually, with the spirit of Escalus' role being stuck true to, but Charlotte Josephine's Mercutio for my tastes was too manic and the toughness overdone to the point of Mercutio being too nasty.
The production does very well with emphasising the youthfulness but it was with the over-emphasis on making everything contemporary where it tries too hard and it all becomes forced and at times gimmicky. Thank goodness that the leads' chemistry is so passionate and so rootable, which helped the love not get lost amidst everything else. The action is too hyperactive and lacks tension, with the basic choreography not being that exciting, the beginning with the children was too on the twee side and the final act was generally too much of an anti-climax. Another cast member that didn't quite do it for me was Michael Hodgson as Capulet, the authority is nailed but this is another case of Capulet being played/directed as too much of a brute and to sledgehammer effect this time.
Do think too that the production doesn't look that attractive (apart from the intimate photography), too sparse and bleak and figuring out where it was meant to be set was hard. The music was very discordant with the action and atmosphere-wise this was a production that needed a more kinetic sound to the music or a more romantic one, here it was too harsh and would be more at home in an action thriller.
Concluding, very mixed here. 5/10.
