Romeo and Juliet

Synopsis

The story of frustrated young (illegally young in modern terms) love and death and the vendetta between two families in a tight-knit Italian community. One of Shakespeare's most popular and enduring dramas it has also been re-done as film, ballet, musical (most notably "West Side Story") and ice spectacular!

Our Review:

5 June 2005

It can be an ominous sign when it’s the designer who gets interviewed at length in the programme, not the director. So it proves with Derby Playhouse’s Romeo and Juliet. The designer in question, Duncan Hayler, explains that the many references to heat in the play led to the interpretation that, in a future world bereft of water, the feud between Montagues and Capulets could be about control of the water supply – also he had “this image of a gleaming chrome truck” in his head.

The result is a stage dominated by a massive water tanker which looks splendid and is manoeuvred with great technical expertise, but seems to me to add nothing to the production. Nobody fights for control of it, nor does there appear to be a water shortage. In the one scene where the tanker materially affects the action - the Tybalt/Romeo fight where chunks of the truck are pressed into action as weapons - Matthew Flynn seems likely to be the first Tybalt to drown before ultimately ...

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Latest User Review

82.151.251.105) - 6 June 2005:

A fantastically original production that makes you realise why Shakepseare's text is still so relevant today. Human weakness and human emotions are enhanced by a reasoning behind the conflict. Alistair Robins as Mercutio gives a performance that the great bard would be proud of. An unexpected delight....

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