I was thrilled to attend this magical summer evening performance to celebrate 10 years of The Lord Chamberlain’s Men; arriving at such a grand venue did make you feel like you were attending the Capulet’s ball yourself and how apt that this performance of Romeo & Juliet took place in mid July just when the original action was set some 420 years ago!
Andrew Normington’s direction and style reminded me very much of my training days back at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, many a midsummer’s evening was spent listening to the clashing swords echoing around the theatre school coming from the actor’s lessons in the car park – and you could certainly tell that John Sandeman (Mercutio and Capulet) had trained there with his fine fight skills! Sandeman is also a fine example of not needing to play the main character to truly shine, his multi-roleing, energy, passion and lead role during the acapella introduction was simply superb.
From a teacher’s perspective I would say this is the best production of Romeo & Juliet I have seen for students; original script with subtle choices, excellent acting and clever blocking which allowed you to understand deeper elements and also enabled you to interpret some design ideas creatively. With the costume’s who were designed by Polly Laurence and amazingly crafted by Will Skeet the use of the colours red and blue helped the audience to cleverly distinguish between the Montague’s and the Capulet’s – although I interpreted the choice of colours as an understated way of hinting at modern day political feuds between the Labour and Conservative parties!
The quick pace of this production with no blackouts or scene changes meant it kept your attention throughout, as well as the amazing projection and energy from the entire cast – you simply couldn’t take your eye off the stage! Again from an educational view point this production allowed for several learning opportunities around original performance conditions and understanding Elizabethan history; the use of Commedia dell’arte masks, staged outdoors in thrust, full Elizabethan costume, use of musical instruments, an all male cast and a simple up lit lighting design with the lanterns housed in steel boxes made to look like candles – another clever design concept!
As producer Mark Puddle says he decided to recreate Shakespeare’s original troupe of travelling players to perform Shakespeare’s classics “…with clarity and entertainment” and this production certainly does just that!