ROMEO AND JULIET by Shakespeare. Haymarket, Basingstoke to 27 October

Basingstoke

ROMEO AND JULIET
by William Shakespeare

Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke To 27 October 2001
Runs 2hr 50min One interval.

TICKETS 01256 465566
Review Timothy Ramsden 15 October

Shakespeare Shanghaied – plenty of colour and light but seriously disappointing verse-speaking.If Shakespeare had left Romeo and Juliet as a scenario – or 'treatment' – what a success it would be, with its gang wars, and its famous lovers growing toward adulthood in a world of parents either distant (anybody seen Mrs Montague?) or overbearing. It's the supreme Elizabethan high-school movie.

But he went and added all those words. Which is where this account falls down.

Bronwyn Mei Lim's Juliet is a big girl for 13 going on 14 but she shows spontaneity and passion, mentally maturing as she sits working out the impact of Tybalt's death and Romeo's banishment. In catching Juliet's urgency, she sometimes hurries and flattens the script, but there's a sense of an individual personality.

And Daniel York gives Mercutio a pronounced manner, a thickset enjoyment in all he does. The fight points up the contrasting youths; York spins, leaps and feints throughout while Paul Chan's thuggish Tybalt stares, slow-witted and uncomprehending, as he waits to get his blow in the moment Mercutio's cavortings are over.
For the rest, the acting is very variable (I'm being polite). One of its principles seems to be: if in doubt, shout. On this basis, it's a doubt-ridden production.

Doubts mount up about the concept of this joint production by the Haymarket's Alasdair Ramsay and British-Chinese theatre company Mu-Lan's Paul Courtenay Hyu. For example, Elroy Ashmore's two-storey set creates a realistic outline, bright red and yellow in Simon Hutchings' smoke-probing lights. But what does this setting add?
The Capulets are Chinese, the Montagues Brits. Montague is an opium merchant, the programme says. The production barely whispers it, and if it's opium money that's to build Juliet's monument it casts a dubious light on her memory. Romeo, in his knitted sleeveless jumper, is a sheltered ex-schoolboy; his light voice suggests inexperience, though it limits Simon Greiff's vocal expression.

What is the power relation between these families? How does making the Prince a Triad boss reflect on these power structures? May be a novel, or film, could manage the transition. On stage, the play's not so much relocated as marooned.

The Prince (Lao-Da-Triad Boss)/Mercutio: Daniel York
Capulet (a Chinese opium merchant): Peter Silverleaf
Lady Capulet: Li-Leng Au
Juliet/Gregory: Bronwyn Mei Lim
Nurse: Pik-sen Lim
Paris/Abraham: Khan Bonfils
Peter/Apothecary/Sampson: Lobo Chan
Montague (a British opium merchant): Hugh Hayes
Romeo: Simon Greiff
Benvolio/Friar John: Matthew Dennison
Tybalt/Balthasar: Paul Chan
Apothecary: Lobo Chan
Friar Laurence (Franciscan Missionary): Hugh Hayes
Wu-Tung Members: Joanna Craig, Emma Clare, David Arnold

Directors: Alasdair Ramsay/Paul Courtenay Hyu
Designer: Elroy Ashmore
Costume: Lai Mui Chi
Lighting: Simon Hutchings
Choreographer: Michelle Lee
Fight director: Tim Klotz

2001-10-18 02:50:29