Review: ROMEO AND JULIET, The Garrick Theatre, 25 May 2-16

Two households and two star-crossed lovers, in fair Verona; new mutiny makes civil hands unclean and palm to palm, they kiss. He is sworn her love and she's no longer a Capulet, but - a plague on both their houses - Tybalt is dead and Romeo banished. Then plague really does make Romeo fortune's fool. Thus with a kiss he dies, the happy dagger finds its sheath and there never was a story of more woe.

The best known of Shakespeare's plays, Romeo and Juliet is so often performed that an original production is perhaps something of an impossibility. It's not a necessity, though; in directors Kenneth Branagh and Rob Ashford's production, the most affecting moment is one of the simplest, as their Romeo, Richard Madden, shouts "Then I defy you, stars!" A line so known it's almost a cliché in itself - but it's over-performed and too-often studied because it is so poignant. Branagh and Ashford might have done better to rely on the text and the wealth of theatrical talent than overcomplicate things.

Controversially, Derek Jacobi takes the role of Mercutio. He has moments of genuine comedy, as one might expect for this role. Yet there are completely unnecessary moments - a drawn-out, sashaying entrance, and a moment where he actually serenades the Nurse, played by Meera Syal. At this point, Romeo and Benvolio click their fingers for him while standing, trying to look as though they're not supposed to be in Mamma Mia. While such whimsy is sweet, it didn't seem relevant, and Jacobi shortly thereafter calling the rather junior Syal "ancient lady" made little sense. His casting seemed a stunt designed to make this production seem different, like a Romeo and Juliet we'd not seen before. What was wrong with the old one?

There were some striking moments; the opening very much situates the production within Italy, with bells tolling for those freshly lost to the feud. Madden and Juliet, played by Lily James, show electrifying chemistry when they first catch sight of each other, and both lovers found some glorious and unusual moments of comedy in the "balcony scene". Yet there's something too calculated here, which seems so inappropriate this play of spontaneous young love, of uncontrollable passion and hate. The Capulets dance precisely to club music; when Juliet sees Romeo, her voice cracks on a particular note as she serenades her father; the opening lines are infinitely less communicative for being boomed from offstage like a film's narration. Even the casting of James and Madden, who played Cinderella and Prince Charming in the 2015 film, also directed by Branagh, seems a little try-hard.

All in all, it seems so close to being a beautiful production. In some moments, it's there - it's just over-complicated. Much as Christopher Oram's stark set seems to impose on the action as pillars needlessly descend for certain scenes, this production's energy has gone into the choreography rather than the words. This text is still relevant; one cannot help but reflect on today's world as Taylor James asks us to "See what a scourge is laid upon your hate?" We don't need to make Romeo and Juliet interesting; it is already. This production could perhaps do less, and so say more.

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