On the 12th July me and my best friend Amy went to watch Kenneth Branagh’s take on Romeo and Juliet at the Garrick Theatre in London. Anyone who knows me knows how excited of I have been to see this play and we had both waited 6 months to see this. There is a plethora of famous names in this notably Branagh reuniting his Cinderella couple of Lily James and Richard Madden as the star crossed lovers. Additionally, another Cinderella actor of Derek Jacobi undertaking the role of Mercutio and actress Meera Syal playing the Nurse. Unfortunately, due to injury Richard Madden did not perform which I have to admit was disappointing but as they say the show must go on, which it did amazingly well we were both in awe of the standard of acting we saw.
The play is set in 1950s Verona and is very La Dolce Vita in
style, however the traditional Shakespeare language is used and there is also a
lot of added Italian in there which worked so well. The staging was phenomenal
yet very simple using what looked like stone columns and steps but it had
amazing effectiveness albeit a bit strange at times especially during the
Capulet’s party. The costumes as well were simple yet elegant and showed
everyone’s character very well. The first half of the play is very light
hearted compared to the second, as we experience Juliet and Romeo falling in
love with one another. It was amazing to watch them fall in love at the
Capulet’s party with her singing and him moving around the stage to get a
better look at her then their eyes finally meet it was powerful to see. We both
enjoyed the comedic twist on the balcony scene it worked really well and broke
down the fourth wall between audience and stage with Romeo frequently talking
to the audience throughout the scene. However, the first half ends on a sombre
note with the deaths of Tybalt and Mercutio which ends up in the banishment of
the newlywed Romeo. This twist of events set the tone for the interval which
had a menacing bell chime throughout its 20 minutes as well as the second half
of the play which was a lot darker and more sombre as the star crossed lovers
suffer and figure out what to do now Romeo has been banished. Obviously the
ending is tragic and from Juliet’s speech on how confused she was whether or
not to take the potion it was very raw and emotional and heart wrenching that
they resorted to suicide to be happy because of their families. The only bad
thing was we did not feel much of a spark between Romeo and Juliet this could
be down to the sudden change of casting but it was still very powerful.
Lily James was phenomenal as Juliet her delivery of the text
was flawless and her acting was just exquisite as all her little mannerisms
allowed the audience to realise that Juliet is only young and a lot is expected
of her, she stole the second half of the play with her portrayal of the
emotions that Juliet has to deal with in the light of Romeo’s banishment and her
inner torment about taking the sleeping draft and acting dead. Tom Hanson as
Romeo did so well considering he is originally Paris when Richard Madden
performs but he steps into the role and makes it his own, albeit he does not
have the same chemistry with Lily as Richard does you get the sense that Tom
has performed Shakespeare before as his execution of the text is perfect. Derek
Jacobi was absolutely phenomenal as Mercutio and stole the first half of the
play with his wittiness and jolliness but wistful showing the age of his
character and what he has probably been through acting as a father figure to
both Romeo and Benvolio. His Queen Mab speech was absolute perfection and the
admiring looks on the faces of Romeo and Benvolio back up this sentiment. His
dance moves as well were one of the best things in the whole play and added a
bit of light heartedness to the whole thing. He has a presence on stage, I
wanted to stand and applaud him because he was that good. His interaction with
Meera Syal was also hilarious and the fact that halfway through the first half
he bursts into song just shows how much of a presence and influence he has. Meera
Syal as the Nurse was also another piece of comic relief with her inappropriate
behaviour throughout but her caring and calming head towards Juliet which made
you feel the relationship between the two of them. All the extra characters
such as the Prince, Juliet’s parents and the Friar were performed amazingly as well,
especially Juliet’s dad as you felt like his temper could snap at a moment’s
notice and also the Friar because all he wants to do is help this desperate couple be happy when their lives involve so much hate and his emotions in the second half are heart breaking because of this. Everyone involved with this should be proud of themselves and the standard of acting they gave because it was phenomenal. Overall, we both loved it and cannot wait to see the encore in the
cinema in a couple of weeks.
However, we did have a gripe with the theatre which was the
way they have handled the injury to Richard Madden there had been no social
media announcements made about it and how long he will not be performing for.
There was a piece of paper in the foyer which we did not notice until we left
the theatre and strips of paper in the programmes saying what has happened
which is disappointing for someone if they had not seen on social media what
had happened.
Hope you all enjoyed this post, until next time
Stacey x
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