Interview: Lucy Keirl on ROMEO & JULIET at the Watermill

Artistic and Executive Director of the Watermill Paul Hart opened his new production of Romeo and Juliet earlier this week, the first of his inaugural season at The Watermill Theatre.

Romeo and Juliet is probably one of the most performed and well-known of Shakespeare's plays. What makes this production different?

Because everyone knows the play so well, there's a danger of it all becoming inevitable, and this production really fights against that. The story is told by a chorus of young people trying desperately to get control of events as they spiral out of hand, and to cling to the spirit of youth when their circumstances force them into adulthood. Some nights you actually believe this time everyone might make it out alive, which makes it all the more devastating when it starts to go wrong!

Our "fair Verona" is a grimy nightclub - the place where life and death have the most proximity - and violence feels like an integral part of the world we've created, which I think is essential to understanding both the escape and the conflict Romeo and Juliet find in each other, and which I haven't seen in other productions.

How do you feel using actor-musicians lends itself to the production?

It seems to go hand in hand with the bar setting, and on a personal level has really helped me to realise Juliet as a character - in our version she's a singer-songwriter and child star, sold like a brand by her parents and manager, and the music grants her an independent voice. It's been a real joy to investigate who Juliet is in that context, and to think about what kind of Juliet I would want to represent me as a young woman watching the play. Traditionally we have preconceptions of this lily-white, fragile 13-year-old, but actually in the text there's no hint of passivity about her, so to have an outlet for the darker elements of the character through music is really exciting.

This show is performed in the round. Do you find yourself being increasingly aware of the audience around you and feel any added pressure because of this?

Having the audience so close really involves them in the action and actually breaks down the performer/spectator divide that can make acting so daunting! They become implicit, and we wanted to make them feel that their influence on the story was as much as the chorus. For Romeo and Juliet, who so often have the stage to themselves, it's also really useful to have someone to share their loneliness with and bounce thoughts off.

How have you found working with the Watermill's new Artistic Director, Paul Hart?

He's utterly brilliant - simultaneously so intelligent and determined in his vision of what he wants to create, but also really generous and accepting of other people's ideas. I could say, "I think Juliet comes in on a skateboard for this scene," and, as long as I could defend it, be confident we would give it a go. Some of the craziest, most magical stuff in the show has come from that freedom to play. Just look at the way Paul's used the theatre in this production - some of the audience sit at a bar right in the middle of the action, and the wooden beams of the Watermill are spliced through with scaffolding to make a really beautiful, dangerous-looking space - and you'll see that he doesn't shy away from bold choices.

Playing Juliet in your professional debut is something other actresses can only dream of. What are your future plans and aspirations?

It's been an absolute dream; I still can't quite believe it! I love love love actor-musician work so if I can make a career out of that I'll be very happy, and of course I'd like to see what I could bring to Shakespeare's other works, but who knows? If acting doesn't work out I'd like to be a zookeeper, so if you don't hear any more from me in a few years it's because I'm birthing wildebeest or something.

Romeo and Juliet runs at the Watermill until 2 April 2016.