Theatre review of Romeo & Juliet at The Globe
1 May 2009
2/5
A HYMN to first love, crap parents and rivalry, it’s little wonder that Baz Luhrman’s glossy 1996 movie vision of the tragic lovers proved a hit with Shakespeare-allergic teenagers.
But Globe director Dominic Dromgoole's lacklustre production is going to have a real slog to convert any more.
With four young stage debuts, including Ukwele Roach’s seething Tybalt, and Ellie Kendrick (BBC’s Anne Frank) as Juliet, getting the passions raging should be a breeze, but either they’re in some kind of reverential Bard stupor or someone’s rooted the cast’s feet to the floor - deaths excluded.
"I am slain," calls Philip Cumbus’s dying Mercutio before an incongruous light jog to centre stage.
It’s not helped that Adetomiwa Eden and Kendrick’s star-crossed lovers seem more inclined to punch each other affably than die for love. Eden barely flinches when he hears of Juliet’s supposed death - the fact they stood six feet away from each other after the wedding night didn’t exactly suggest wild romance, but come on. It’s a romantic tragedy for crying out loud, give us something to root for.
Some welcome energy in the second half aside, the cast zip through their lines at roaring speed (a welcome courtesy to those with last trains to catch) but losing much of the colour – although, as always, the dick jokes get the biggest laughs.
The Globe have chosen the safest Shakespeare and turned it into a schoolkid’s worst nightmare – boring, unimaginative and having no real relevance to their lives. Never was there a story of more woe indeed.
did you miss?
features
News by…
Topics
Football
People
Julia Buckley
Places
Usa
-
Stoke Newington
Character flat:All bills inc/WiFi,cable15 min2City
£180pw -
Morden Hall Park
Nice Double room in flatshare
£105pcm -
Peckham
F/furnished Doble room in lovely clean house share
£100pw
