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:

1 May 2009

What’s in a name indeed? Young Hearts is the name for the new Globe season and young hearts is what we get. The pair of star-crossed lovers is played by as youthful a duo as one is likely to see.

Dominic Dromgoole’s production doesn’t always come off (why, for example, does Juliet go to bed in the middle of the Capulet living room?) but there’s plenty here to stir the soul. It captures the excitement of young love and the tragic waste of premature death, as well as providing a sense of the desperate urgency with which the relationship unfolds.

In Adetomiwa Edun, the Globe has unearthed a fine Romeo. After a somewhat uneasy start, he quickly finds his feet and surmounts the tricky acoustics of the Globe. What he captures perfectly is the capricious nature of youth – one certainly can envisage this Romeo falling in love with Juliet as quickly as he fell out of love with Rosaline. And there's real anger in his duel with...

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Latest User Review

Katie - 29 August 2009:

I wasn't blown away by this performance. Romeo and Juliet presented a pleasant enough image of teen infatuation, but they were entirely lacking in any sexual chemistry and I found it difficult to believe that theirs was a love worth dying for. There were some excellent performances in the supporting cast though. Ian Redford in particular gave an excepetional performance as Capulet. Scene 3.5 when he works himself up into a fury over Juliet's refusal to marry Paris was the highlight of the evening, and even Kendrick managed to shine somewhat in this scene as the desperately helpless Juliet. It was Redford that fuelled the momentum of the scene though. On the whole an average production, but with moments of pure brilliance here and there....

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