Review: Romeo and Juliet (Union Theatre)
Professional football has a problem. Statistically, two per cent of British men identify as gay or bisexual. This season, 504 men have played in the Premier League, so you could expect about 10 of these players to identify as gay or bisexual. But in the history of the game, not one active player has come out publicly for fear of abuse or ridicule from rivals whether it be on Twitter or in the terraces.
Andy Bewley's production puts our star-crossed lovers in the midst of that atmosphere. The Montagues and Capulets are fans of rival teams in Verona, Romeo and Juliet are two young boys who have made their way through youth football academies. They first encounter one another at a screening of a big game, the brawls that ensue are more like two hooligan firms going at one another. One family don red kits, the other blue.
Some of the sporty aspects of this production seem a tad gimmicky. There are brass band renditions of the anthem "Seven Nation Army", the leads are competent at keepie-uppie, Mercutio dons Mario Balotteli's sky-blue 'Why Always Me?' shirt. But the football theme really hits on the thuggery between two rival forces. In the 1590s, it was families who beat each other up for pride, now, fans attack each other in the stands. It's tribal. When Tybalt and Romeo square up, it's as if they're two players on the pitch who (at first) know they can't throw fisticuffs.
Abram Rooney's Romeo is a confident teenager who has no qualms about his feelings. "I am in love with a man", he tells the nurse, loud and proud. Juliet, on the other hand, is reluctant to open up. He's lined up to marry Paris – Allegra Marland plays her as a stereotypical Essex WAG – but inevitably cannot resist Romeo.
At times, the play touches on why it might be hard for the footballing world to accept a gay player. Tybalt (Sam Wilson) rubs his wrapped knuckles as he screams homophobic insults across the stage. It's the reaction the football world doesn't want to happen, and the one anyone who faces coming out fears.
Rooney plays a convincing Romeo. This play deals with two boys facing up to their sexuality, and there's no doubt about the young Montague 's feelings. When everything comes crashing down around him, devastation literally pours from his face (think Gazza vs Germany in 1990). Sam Perry is decent as Juliet, but his affection never feels as intense as Romeo's.
Set in traverse, the set is pretty bare. Grass on the stage, two benches at either end and a staircase over the audience. The actors have a lot of work to do, and sometime it does seem to descend into a shouting match. But sometimes, the small space is used well. Juliet's balcony overlooks one side of the traverse as Romeo creeps from behind side of the room to the other, cautious but captivated.
The sport theme weakens in the second act, which is a shame because it mutes the point of setting it in this way. But it maybe proved too difficult to set a story about intense love and tragic death on the football pitch.
Romeo and Juliet runs at the Union Theatre until 20 May.
