★★
Jamie Lloyd’s stripped back production of Romeo & Juliet hits the Duke of York’s theatre this summer. Starring Tom Holland as Romeo and Francesca Amewudah-Rivers as Juliet, this highly anticipated interpretation unfortunately falls flat.
Entering the auditorium, you hear very loud electronic music that is reminiscent of the American Horror Story theme tune. Immediately signifying that this show will be unlike typical productions of Romeo and Juliet, the music serves to unnerve the audience from the get-go.
The stage is minimalist and dark except from a sign that is bright red reading ‘Verona’. There are also microphones on stands dotted around the front and back where intermittently the cast shout and whisper into, resulting in an undesired effect. A ginormous screen, which takes up almost all of the width of the stage, is offered as compensation for the lack of set and throughout the play live scenes filmed around the theatre are projectedon it.
Utilising the entire theatre (backstage, its roof and its bar) adds an interesting dimension and cleverly breaks the fourth wall, but it does not lend itself to Shakespeare’s text; instead, the use of locations feels arbitrary. Moments such as the Capulet ball, where Holland remains on stage, but Amewudah-Rivers is in the theatre’s golden foyer, are anticlimactic as the passion between the two gets lost.
Lloyd is known for his use of cameras, with the latest example being Sunset Boulevard which played at the Savoy Theatre and closed earlier this year. Where the use of filming works well in Romeo & Juliet, is when the actors are performing scenes onstage together and the camera is used to emphasise their facial expressions. One example of where this used effectively is when Capulet, the nurse and Juliet, argue about Paris. With the cameraman orbiting around the three, the dizzying effect of this heightens the emotions and tension.
The cast wear modern dress, with black hoodies and trousers. Due to the lack of visual divide of their costumes, it is not immediately clear who is who and without a clear separation of the two houses, the tensions between them are weakened.
Moreover, this is highlighted with the deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt. There is no fight sequence; instead a blackout and lots of blood indicates what’s happened. This is an unusual directorial decision as it prevents us from seeing the conflict, both psychically and emotionally, between the Capulets and Montagues, and the famous line, “A Plague on both your houses”, uttered by Mercutio, has no impact. Subsequently, it was difficult to believe Juliet’s torment of loving Romeo whilst mourning her cousin, Tybalt.
During the famous balcony scene, Romeo and Juliet are sat next to each other at the front of the stage. Neither Holland nor Amewudah-Rivers adjust where they look to indicate the height distance between them. Instead, they face the audience and the yearning is therefore lost between the star crossed lovers.
Additionally, the pinnacle moment of the show, the death scene, was anticlimactic. As there are no props in this production, we have to imagine the dagger and vial of poison used. Holland and Amewudah-Rivers remove the microphones that are taped to the sides of their faces to represent their character dying, leading to an underwhelming moment.
Despite the unusual direction of scenes, the acting from the cast is superb, Tomiwa Edun’s Capulet is vicious, and Agyeman provides much needed comic relief in her portrayal of the nurse. Holland’s acting is mostly believable, but in some of Romeo’s speeches he includes unnecessary long pauses which make it seem like he’s forgotten his lines. But it is Amewudah-Rivers who impresses most with her ability to speak Shakespeare with passion and urgency.
Romeo and Juliet plays at the Duke of York’s theatre until 3 August.
Words by Amelia Braddick
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