My London Trip - Part Two - Romeo and Juliet

After The Threepenny Opera, I made my way back to the West End to the Garrick Theatre where Kenneth Branagh's theatre company was performing Romeo and Juliet.  I had stopped there earlier and learned that they were filming that evening in preparation for a live stream of the next day's performance.  The Box Office was very candid and helpful and so I took a seat in the Dress Circle rather than the Stalls.  For those keeping score, I paid 35 pounds for my seat.  I was offered the limited view seat in the stalls for the same price.

Kenneth Branagh is considered one of the finer Shakespearean actors and directors of today.  He started this theatre company to perform Shakespeare and other "classics".  Several of the shows have been filmed and broadcast or streamed to movie theatres.

Upon arriving, I had a second surprise. Romeo was to have been played by Richard Madden, who stars on Game of Thrones.  But, he was out due to some injury.  The young ladies sitting behind me were quite disappointed!  And verbally so! So, I had the understudy Tom Hansen on for Romeo.  Mr. Hansen normally plays Paris, and someone else had to step up into that role! I was very curious as to Mr. Madden's injury and whether the next day's performance would not be streamed.  It turns out that Madden injured his ankle.  He was able to do the live stream - but that was, I believe, the last time.  He has since withdrawn from the production.  Oddly, Mr. Hansen was subsequently injured and two performances were cancelled!  Message boards wondered why Kenneth Branagh himself didn't step into the role. 

A confession.  Until this performance, I had never seen a full length performance of Romeo and Juliet. Sure, I was familiar with the story and some of the speeches, but I had never even read the whole play! 

In any event, this production was jointly directed by Mr. Branagh and Rob Ashford who is known more for his choreography.  The play is set in 1960s Italy.  Everyone is costumed in black and white.  (Apparently, the live stream was in black and white).  It looks and feels like a 1960s Italian movie.  The actors even swear and rant in Italian.  For me, this was a play of two halves.  The First Act was Acts One through Three of the play.  The Second Act was the final two acts of the play.  

The First Act was invigorating.  Filled with humor and strong characterizations.  Lilly James - of Downtown Abbey - was Juliet.  She was joyous, no more so than in the beginning of the balcony scene where she has a bottle or wine or champagne and is dizzy with love and alcohol.  Mr. Hansen made for a handsome Romeo and seemed to have some good chemistry with Ms. James' Juliet - so I don't feel like I missed anything by not seeing Mr. Madden.  (Side note: Mr. Madden and Ms. James were the leads in Disney's recent live version of Cinderella, which was....directed by Kenneth Branagh.  

The most interesting choice - and one that paid off handsomely - was to have Derek Jacobi in the role of Mercutio.  So, instead of Mercutio being one of Romeo's friends, Mercutio is the older uncle who provides advice based on his years.  While he sometimes came across as more of a Polonius (from Hamlet, for those who don't know), his style and panache worked, including his brash decision to duel Tybalt, a man 50 years his junior!

But, Act Two was dreary and maudlin.  It almost seemed like the actors themselves lost interest in the story.  And apparently Shakespeare also lost interest.  Because, it is one speech after another. Lots of "telling" to the audience.  There is very little interaction between the characters.  I guess the ending of the play was sort of tragic, but it didn't have any emotional heft for me.  

So, I would say Four Stars (out of five) for Act One.  One star (out of five) for Act Two.

If you didn't catch this in the theatres in July, it will be shown in movie theatres again according to the Kenneth Branagh company website.  As yet, there are no listings for an encore showing in Champaign-Urbana.