How better to mark the Bard’s birthday
Than with a potent dose of R & J?  

Each time one sees a fresh production of a classic, new elements emerge. By fresh I mean new to my eyes and ears, given this digitally recorded Romeo and Juliet was performed live at Shakespeare’s Globe theatre in London in 2009. It now screens free to global audiences on Globe Player (until Sunday 3 May).

It has never occurred to me before that this tragedy starts with commedia dell’arte conventions as a bunch of word-playing servants fool about in the street, establishing the enmity between the houses of Capulet and Montague, rudely punning about their weapons and tools, biting thumbs at each other, drawing swords and fighting like boys with sticks until Benvolio – kinsman to a Montague – calls them fools: “Put up your swords, you know not what you do.”

But things get serious when Tybalt (nephew of Capulet’s wife) comes spoiling for a fight with peace-maker Benvolio and the sword-fighting escalates with people running to join in, including Senori Capulet and Montague, wielding their swords against the wishes of their wives.

In a master-stroke, Director Dominic Dromgoole brings the young man we will come to know as Mercutio into the fray with his uncle Prince Escalus and has him play suggestively with the shaft of Tybalt’s sword as the Prince thunders his rage at his rebellious subjects. Thus the joys and torments of testosterone and oestrogen are clearly established as the motive forces driving the drama to follow.

The Prince’s command to behave as he bids or pay the penalty of death is common to such comedies as The Comedy of Errors and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Shakespeare knew that downward pressure and jeopardy served comedy and tragedy equally. Romeo and Juliet blends both genres, often preceding the most highly tragic moments with low comedy. In honouring both, this Globe production shows how easily boisterous-cum-toxic male behaviour, as a coping mechanism for raging adolescent hormones, can turn tragic. It was ever thus and continues to be so.

Jack Farthing’s Benvolio offers an uncomplicated point of balance between the extremes of Mercutio and Romeo. As played by Philip Cumbus, Mercutio is wrestling internally with his privilege and his sexuality in ways that manifest as misogyny. Adetomiwa Edun’s Romeo Montague is deeply imbued with romantic love, first for Rosaline (of the house of Capulet, which is why he goes to the feast) and then for her cousin Juliet (the Capulet’s only child).  

Ever on the move, Edun has an unnerving habit of walking backwards while in full flight, miraculously avoiding the pitfalls of the Globe’s stair wells. His passion is pure, all-consuming and fluently expressed.

As Juliet, Ellie Kendrick invites us on her utterly compelling journey from light-hearted girlish innocence, through the blossoming of passionate love and desire, to an indomitable strength of will in the face of parental demands. I doubt that I shall ever see a Juliet better played.

Ian Redford counterpoints Capulet’s genial hospitality in hosting the feast – making Romeo and his mates feel welcome, and telling Tybalt to back off – with powerful patriarchal dominance in demanding Juliet marry the unloved County Paris (also related to the Prince and therefore to Mercutio). And Miranda Foster, as Lady Capulet, convincingly captures the universal dilemma of a loyal wife and loving mother attempting to accommodate two strong wills.

My only quibble is that Tom Stuart is obliged to play Paris as a bit of a dork – a common ploy – which diminishes his dramatic impact as a credible husband. Likewise, at the feast, the young woman I take to be Rosaline is directed to dance gawkily with Romeo. These are ‘laugh at’ rather that ‘laugh with’ examples of humour, which I find distasteful and unnecessary.

Penny Layden’s Nurse is perfectly pitched as deeply bonded with Juliet, having wet-nursed and raised her, following the loss of her own daughter, Susan. Her total commitment to Juliet’s happiness, to the point of aiding and abetting her clandestine marriage to Romeo, is indisputable – even though it has been made clear Juliet is not quite 14 years old. That’s how it was back then – and as good a justification as any to maintain the period setting.

As for her encounter in the street with Mercutio – in the enabling presence of Romeo and Benvolio, and her man Peter – Dromgoole doesn’t attempt to play it for laughs but opts instead for subjecting the Nurse to entitled male behaviour many women will recognise, and Layden’s silent suffering speaks volumes. This is a timely reminder of the nonsense that has set the whole sorry chain of events in motion.

The crucial role of Friar Lawrence is played by our very own Rawiri Paratene with a no-nonsense eloquence and fluent energy that drives the plot forward without delay. And so the tragic end comes to pass and the warring factions reconcile.

Some of the minor roles are functionally played but James Lailey deserves a mention for his energetically comical Sampson and his well-delineated Friar John and Constable.

The set design (by Simon Daw) – unusually for the Globe, I think – brings the Juliet balcony forward of the permanent upstage marbled wall which is masked with a plain wall and judiciously-placed portals. It works well and is variously used to keep the 2hr 52mins traffic moving at a goodly pace across the Wooden O’s hallowed stage.

This Romeo and Juliet is impeccably paced and clearly rendered. Highly recommended. See here.

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