Monday 20 September 2010

Romeo and Juliet at the Theatre Royal in York: 14th September 2010 – A Review

Pilot Theatre's tour of Romeo and Juliet now at York Theatre Royal is enjoyable and well worth seeing. Marcus Romer and Katie Posner as co-directors do an excellent job of keeping this teenage love story fresh up to date and relevant to modern young people, and they and the whole team are to be congratulated for this. It is action-packed, visually exciting, and with a contemporary sound track throughout.  The themes of the play are as relevant to an audience today as they were when it was first performed.
Chloe Lamford’s set design is beautiful and simple, with the many silk flowers used throughout to comic effect.
Rachel Spicer as Juliet is a revelation, and she really catches the eye as the teenager whose life is to take a tragic turn following a chance meeting with Romeo (Oliver Wilson).  Oliver Wilson as Romeo and his Montague family are fantastic together, and for me, are the highlight of this production, as they interact seamlessly together as playful, boisterous cousins and for this, Bryn Holding as Benvolio and Chris Lindon as Mercutio/Paris deserve a lot of credit.
Lousia Eyo as “Nurse” steals every scene she’s in. William Travis as Capulet is excellent, and his “Dad dancing” is very funny and worth the ticket price itself!
This production kept me entertained, and if this cast and creative team can keep me, a Shakespeare sceptic, entertained, then it must be good.  They didn’t change my mind entirely about Shakespeare, but this excellent production made it very enjoyable for me, and that’s a damn good start.


Luke Winterburn
YGG

Romeo & Juliet at York Theatre Royal 10th Sept to Sat 25th Sept
see http://www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/
Box Office 01904 623568

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

A shakespeare 'sceptic!' does that mean you think he's overated too! Oscar Wilde for me evertime.