Review: ROMEO AND JULIET comes to life at the Maynardville Open-Air Festival

ROMEO AND JULIET has to be the one Shakespeare that everyone knows the story for. It's certainly the one I know best having studied and performed it numerous times... So, it's not always easy for me to watch this play. Thankfully, I thoroughly enjoyed this year's production at Maynardville!

Heading to the open-air theatre is such a treat, and the revitalisation that VR Theatricals has pulled off for this important Cape Town theatre landmark is incredible. From the moment you enter the grounds, you're treated to a warm welcome. There is a great energy at the festival and what's put on stage matches that energy perfectly. It's a world-class experience all round.

Right, back to the play. You obviously need your Romeo and your Juliet - the two star-crossed lovers are vital for the play to go well. Nahum Hughes and Simone Neethling were gorgeous in these roles. Neethling was effervescent (and usually I hate using such words to describe a person or a character, but she had that bubbliness but was still grounded and real in her characterisation). The pair together set the tone brilliantly.

John Maytham as the Prince was an excellent choice. He provided beautiful grounding and gravitas to the beginning and the end. I also particularly enjoyed Tailyn Ramsay as Benvolio and Rehane Abrahams as Mercutio. And my favourite character of the entire play - the Nurse - remains so with Hannah Borthwick's portrayal.

The set for this piece is clever. It gave a strong sense of ruins - to me, it was almost as if the characters on stage were the ghosts replaying the tragic action. Beams jutted out with cracks in the concrete and plants growing out of them. The floor had strange levels - steps and half steps - to give height and dimension. Director Geoffrey Hyland's set concept, coupled with lighting from Oliver Hauser and sound design from David Classen, built a fascinating world for the characters.

I do have to mention the length of the play. Hyland has chosen to run it without an interval, meaning it's a session of just under 2 hours. Tremendous cuts have been made to the text (well, that's normal because the original text would run at about 3 hours plus two intervals). And the cuts were clever. They were subtle - shaving pieces out of scenes and removing small scenes and characters without making huge jumps from one moment to the next. While watching the play, I wasn't aware of the length. I was sitting quite happily watching the action unfold. However, thinking back, I feel that some things may have been rushed due to cuts needing to be made to allow the play to run with no interval. I honestly have mixed feelings about this decision.

Overall, ROMEO AND JULIET is engaging and the director used the setting of Maynardville to create a haunting piece. It runs until 24 February, so you have the whole month to catch it! And you should catch it. Tickets are available on Quicket and they range from R161 - R320.

Photo credit: Domenic Gorin

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