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The tragedy of Romeo by rote
REVIEW: ROMEO AND JULIET
Middle Temple Hall
THE first recorded performance of Twelfth Night was performed in Middle Temple Hall in 1602.
Shakespeare returns to the famous Elizabethan Hall with a production of Romeo and Juliet starring Juliet Rylance, the daughter of The Globe theatre’s former artistic director Mark.
Furnished with intricate carvings and decked with historic paintings of strange kings and stranger lawyers, it is a grand setting indeed.
Inside the hall, body armour and family crests line the walls between the magnificent stained-glass windows.
Expensive shoes squeaked on the shiny floor.
A trumpet parped, and the show commenced: warring gangs exchanging dirty looks, teenage pregnancies, boys boasting of thrusting maids up against the wall, and a summer-time explosion of knife crime.
This love story is not as drivelling as you might think. The modern parallels, particularly the spate of recent teenage killings in London, were shockingly apparent.
When Mercutio – the Montague “who would quarrel over anything” – is killed following a play fight with rival Tybalt, the language used could have been lifted straight from the grieving families of teenagers stabbed to death this year.
This is a play for our time – so it is a shame that when Benvolio says “put up your swords, you know not what you do”, he is wearing gold spangled tights and a frilly blouse.
Shakespeare’s plays have sustained interest for more than 400 years because of their contemporary relevance. Locking the lines strips them of their potency.
Professional troupe Theatre of Memory present a polished production and Rylance, wide-eyed and innocent, puts in a commendable performance as Juliet.
The same could not be said for her “god of idolatry” Romeo (Santiago Cabrera, star of the hit TV series Heroes).
He recited the lines in a rather robotic fashion and when Friar Laurence tells him cuttingly “thy love did read by rote”, the criticism felt apt.
I do not think the audience – many great authorities on the Hall before the show – enjoyed the historical experiment; several could be seen, and heard, snoozing by the break.
Until September 13
0845 120 7543 |
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