Romeo and Juliet, Jan 16, 2013 ***

William Shakespeare, Australian Shakespeare Company

Botanical Gardens, Observatory Gate, Jan 16 until March 9, 2013
Reviewer: Kate Herbert on Jan 16, 2013
Stars:***

This review published on line and in print in Herald Sun, Mon Jan 21, 2013. KH

 

 Madeleine Field & Jamieson Caldwell

Glenn Elston’s playful, accessible Romeo and Juliet demands no prior knowledge of Shakespeare, so those who never see his plays inside a theatre can enjoy a night under the stars with a blanket, a chardonnay and friends.

The trees in the Botanical Gardens glow purple behind the classical façade of a palazzo in Verona where the star-crossed lovers live out their tragic, teenage romance.

Romeo and Juliet, one of Shakespeare’s great tragedies, is about two warring families, the Capulets – Juliet’s family – and the Montagues – Romeo’s kin.

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The young couple is the heart of the story and Jamieson Caldwell’s Romeo is an attractive, athletic, boyish and passionate youth, steeped in a romantic, poetic view of love and, like any lovesick adolescent, lacking confidence in seduction.

Madeleine Field as Juliet is pretty and intense, but a little too sophisticated, arch and sexually confident – like a modern schoolgirl – and her performance often looks studied, melodramatic and disconnected from Shakespeare’s text.

The first half of Elston’s production is light-hearted and littered with topical, contemporary jokes, boyish horseplay from Romeo and his pals, and good-humoured teasing and participation with the audience.

As night settles over the gardens, the second half shifts tone, becoming darker and more ominous, with perilous swordplay, tragic errors of judgement and deaths.

Scott Jackson plays Romeo’s jovial but doomed pal, Mercutio, with an edge of mischievous taunting and physicality and an unusual hint of campery, while Chris Asimos is an ardent and dangerous Tybalt.

Brendan O’Connor is a credible patriarch as Juliet’s father, Capulet, cleverly balancing good-humoured drunkenness with unbridled rage.

Anthony Rive is a suitably affable fool as Peter, the illiterate servant, but Natalia Novikova does not always hit the broad, bawdy, comic note needed for Juliet’ s foolish, old Nurse.

Seeing Romeo and Juliet in the intense pressure cooker of a theatre can be overwhelming so, in this garden setting and with some playful additions to the text, the pressure is off the audience who can lie back, sip a wine, and enjoy.

By Kate Herbert

Cast:

Jamieson Caldwell Romeo

Madeleine Field Juliet

Brendan O’Connor Capulet

Claire Nicholls Lady Capulet

Natalia Novikova Nurse

Chris Asimos Tybalt

Anthony Rive Peter

Nick Backstrom Friar

Ross Williams Montague

Daniel Mottau Benvolio

Scott Jackson Mercutio

Charlie Sturgeon Prince

Hugh Sexton Paris

Female Understudy Mia Landgren

Male Understudy James Harvy

Creative Team:

Director & Script Adaptation Glenn Elston

Musical Director Paul Norton

Costume Designer Karla Erenbots

Production Manager Ashley Groenen

Stage Manager Alix Parsons

Production Co-ordinator Kaspa Elston

Scenic Artist Barry Drynan

Lighting Operator Gordon Boyd

Fight Choreographer Felicity Steel

Dance Choreographer Sue-Ellen Shook