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“Fun” is not the most easily associated word with Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet. But there is a lot to have in the new production of Sean Holmes for Shakespeare's Globe. The staging of Holmes, who starts the summer season here in an exuberant style, takes place in the West West.
Machism rises high; The rivalries are transmitted and bubble; Women wear Vichy; Men wear stetsons and cowboy boots. The characters broke out through the doors of the living room at the center of the Paul Wills regime to bragging, fighting or establishing the law, the official line dancing on the Capulets ball is transformed into a sweaty and sexy spell by Romeo Gatecrasthing and friends (to music provided by a fabulous group of Bluegrass), and history failed with heat, dust and energy.
But the potential of violence is constantly simmering under the yellowy atmosphere. A sequence of blood on the wooden wall at the back of the scene testifies to the dark impact of all combat speeches and the prince of Dharmesh Patel (a starchy sheriff here) is clearly exasperated by bloodshed. The spectacle is permeated by the waste of insane life common to so many westerns, where men compete under the fighter sun, the knives quickly give way to rifles and bodies regularly litter the floor of the living room.
Faced with all this, haste the romance of Romeo and Juliet makes sense – life is short and uncertain – and resembles an act of challenge. The hope of the earthy and affectionate nurse of Jamie-Rose, the affectionate nurse and the brother of John Lightbody, stressed that the union of lovers could forge peace is understandable, if she is poorly founded. The two clearly saw enough death.
You become very aware of young people from Rawaed Asde Charming Romant and Lola Shalam, Fougueux, Franc -Juliette – impulsive adolescents trapped in a small border town, eager to live life, love and sex. Shalam's Juliette, in particular, submits to her leash and is clearly closer to her salted and sensible nurse than her distant and officially acquired mother. The balcony scene is partly played to laugh, with Juliette pushed on a mobile platform through the crowd, urging the bailiffs to bring it closer to Romeo. But there is a sweetness to meet: two young people who are excessively trying to express their feelings booming.
Holmes is good in comedy in this space and uses this experience here – playful flirts, Rash Mercutio by Michael Elcock with the crowd, Romeo hides among them. It sometimes has a cost, however. Holmes could afford to let certain subsequent scenes breathe longer: the end – the death of Juliette in particular – feels rushed and sometimes the comedy imbalances the play.
But there are also wonderful ideas here. The character speaks their last lines just after being killed, looking in numb, as if they were shocked by the sudden reality of death. They all also come back to the end as sober reminders of what has been lost in this insane quarrel. And, despite all its windy comic flair, this production highly puts the austere tragedy in the foreground that five young vibrant human beings lost their lives for a few days, each was suffocated in an instant.
★★★★ ☆
As of August 2, shakespearesglobe.com
