BWW Reviews: ROMEO AND JULIET, Broadway Studio Theatre, Catford, February 1 2012

Gang violence, family feuds and murder are not unknown on the mean streets of South-East London that lay all around Catford Broadway Theatre, so a sharp suit or two, unbelted jeans and V-neck T-shirts are plenty enough to convince any doubters of the contemporary relevance of Shakespeare's tale of love, vengeance and death. Thus Will Young audiences identify immediately with the 400 year-old play.

But modern dress Shakey is ten-a-penny in London, so Asia Osborne's production needs more than a bit of street credibility to bring in audiences off the frozen February pavements. She gets it from a cast who speak the play's blank verse with an exemplary clarity and a real sympathy for the rhythm of its speech. This is the best vocalising of Shakespearean text that I have heard in London.

Karl Brown's Romeo captures his headlong descent into the madness of love without ever losing the sense that this is a real teenager who wants to do the right thing, but it so surrounded by deep-seated hatred that he is as much a victim as those he stabs. Rachel Winters looks as young and delicate as a Juliet must, but soon shows her steely resolve, standing up to her terrifying parents (James Law and Emma Tapley) in a masterful performance, capped by her appalling consideration of the possible fates that may befall her on taking the draft that will give her the appearance of death. If Ms Winters is the standout, there are no weak links in a uniformly impressive cast.

With prices comparing well to an evening at the multiplex, I expect many school parties and students will take the opportunity to see what is still a set text on many courses. This show deserves a much wider audience than that - done as well as this in an intimate studio space that brings us close to the pain, physical and psychological, that gushes up close and personal, there won't be better value to be had anywhere in London.  

Romeo and Juliet is at The Broadway Studio Theatre, Catford until 26 February.  

 

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