ROMEO AND JULIET: Shakespeare, New Vic, Newcastle U Lyme, till 17 November
Newcastle Under Lyme
ROMEO AND JULIET: William Shakespeare
New Vic, Newcastle Under Lyme, Tkts 01782 717962
Runs: 2h 30m, one interval, till 17 November
Review: Rod Dungate, 2 November
Very much a domestic tragedy in a surehanded production by Gwenda Hughes: couldn't be better served by Romeo, Juliet and the nurse, a production of soaring peaks and pastoral valleys
Romeo and Juliet stands and falls by three performances – Romeo, Juliet and the Nurse. Gwenda Hughes's production couldn't be better served by Paul Barnhill, Emma Pallant and Lorna Laidlaw. Here is a Romeo all wrestling testosterone suddenly swept away by passion, a Juliet highly intelligent and tough swept away by love, and a Nurse down-to-earth, loving, with outrageously wicked sense of humour caught up in and swept away by the terrible tragedy that overcomes the houses of Capulet and Montague. Both Barnhill and Pallant are good on their own, but when together there is a quality of beauty around them so tangible you could reach out and touch it. Approaching death they both strike notes of joy.
In the intimate in-the-round New Vic acting space the play is very much a domestic play. Within this context the play's great climaxes, particularly in Hughes's surehanded management of the production, highs and lows are soaring peaks and pastoral valleys. As ever, with Hughes's work, the complexity of relationships comes to the fore.
Many moments are specially memorable. Janice McKenzie's beautiful and beautifully understated Lady Capulet, for instance, as she tells Juliet she is to be married to Count Paris: McKenzie's quiet tone is mesmerising. Diametrically opposed is Mark Arden's terrifying Capulet himself, blowing his top when Juliet says she won't be married. Incandescent with rage he whacks her hard across her face and storms from the room – and we see all Juliet's support fall away, first her mother, then her nurse.
Always of interest in R and J is the friendship between Mercutio and Romeo. Nick Haverson's highly dangerous Mercutio is a lad well out of control. There is a desperation about Mercutio: he either doesn't know when to stop or simply can't. This stems, you suspect, from his 'boysie' world falling apart, and perhaps, a dark streak of misogyny. But how this Romeo loves his friend: 'Hush' he says, holding him and comforting him when he loses it in the Queen Mab speech. How far does Mercutio's affection for Romeo go, we ask ourselves?
Director: Gwenda Hughes
Designer: Michael Holt
Sound: James Earls-Davis
Lighting: Daniella Beattie
Cast
Capulet: Mark Arden
Romeo: Paul Barnhill
Lady Montague, Nell, Apothecary: Heather Craney
Balthasar: Daniel Harcourt
Mercutio: Nick Haverson
Tybalt: Malcolm James
Nurse: Lorna Laidlaw
Lady Capulet: Janice McKenzie
Paris: Aidan Meech
Benvolio: James Millard
Juliet: Emma Pallant
Friar Lawrence: Robert Pickavance
Montague and Friar John: Rob Swinton
Prince of Verona: Sandra Yaw
Capulet's Bodyguards: Ben Williams, Jim Russell
2001-11-02 10:47:23