3.5 STARS, Feb 3-24. The GSC sheds new light on the tale of star-cross’d lovers
Matt Pereira
It’s always exciting to review a production by the talented Guildford Shakespeare Company. From Charlotte Conquest’s direction of Romeo and Juliet we anticipated an original approach to the classic tale of “star-cross’d lovers” and certainly Conquest has brought a modern sensitivity to their plight. Here the young people are destroyed by fatal chance but above all by the norms of their society’s attitude to women, as well as by their families’ greed and feuding.
The Georgian architecture of the venue has inspired the director to transpose the setting from the Elizabethan era to the late 18th century. Mores concerning women’s status and marriage law changed not at all in the intervening years. The lovers' rebellion against their elders’ repression of their personal needs is described by Matt Pinches in his programme note as “a fight for a better world.”
We expect inventive and site-specific design from the GSC and are not disappointed by the opening scene, a beautiful choral setting of the prologue and a cameo effect in living silhouettes. Music and choreography are brilliantly employed throughout, especially in the ball scene, where the blocking of the young people’s desires is expressed by “freezing” the adults while Romeo and Juliet try to break through the barrier they form.
Matt Pereira Photography +44(0)7525751064
The three female characters, Juliet (Lucy Pearson), her nurse (Harriet Thorpe) and Lady Capulet (Sarah Gobran) are far stronger and more assertive, both as characters and as actors, than the male characters. The performances of the male actors, including Ricky Oakley as Romeo, are pedestrian in comparison. Lucy Pearson is a wonderful Juliet. She lends her character a passion and depth that develops and surprises as the story unfolds. From her demure appearance in the first act as a little girl emotionally neglected by her mother and totally dependent on her nurse for love, she becomes a determined and self-motivated being. I was moved almost to tears by her reception of the news of Romeo’s banishment. Ricky Oakley’s similar despairing rant about his forthcoming exile seemed a mere childish tantrum. His last speech, in Juliet’s tomb, was delivered as if he were reading it from a textbook.
Lucy Pearson’s and Sarah Gobran’s diction was beautifully clear and modulated. Harriet Thorpe’s Nurse plays with affection and humour an earthy, grounded female. Matt Pinches’s Prince, in Sun King’s wig and brocade, is imperious and scornful.
The varied regional accents of the actors, which include a Scots Capulet and a Midlands Romeo, were something of a distraction, especially as Oakley’s diction and pace of delivery worked poorly against the church’s difficult acoustics. There also seemed to be an implied class difference between the houses of Montague and Capulet, though in the prologue to Shakespeare’s play they were “households both alike in dignity”.
It’s always good to see new interpretations of Shakespeare's tragedies and with its faults, this is still a rewarding theatrical experience.
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