Before reading this review, please remember that these are my options and I tend to be very pedantic about theatre, particularly Shakespeare, as it is a great love of mine. My options are just as valid as anyone else’s and does not present a comment on them as people.
On the 25th of July I saw the CODA production of Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare. This production was directed by Sarah H Gordon and David Sanders to be performed at Wandle Park Bandstand in the middle of the park. Which presented a few problems for the company, that will come later. Although it is an Am Dram performance, I do not think that the standard nor level of thought should be lowered as this production had potential to be incredible.
SUMMARY
Where to begin with production is a tough choice. In case you don’t want to read through all of this, overall the production was exactly what you would have expected from an Am Dram company. It was unfortunate that the actors in the principal roles were out shined by the secondary characters, this was most likely due to the lack of originality to the famous roles. But I’ll get into that later.
PRODUCTION OVERVIEW
The production overall was incredibly disappointing. There are so many creative interpretations of this text that already exists such as the RSC 2018 production and the NYT 2016 production which focused on the excitement of new love, and clearly showed this through the vibrancy of their productions. CODA’s interpretation did not compare to these joys of theatre. With Shakespeare, I always think it is important to address a political or social issue, regardless of level of performance, in order to gain direction with the production and to help the audience connect with the play, there was no political or social commentary shown which made it incredibly difficult to see the purpose of performing this play. It came across as if the directors put on this performance for no reason whatsoever. There was no clear time frame or style shown in this play. If it was supposed to be modern-day, then it was done half heartedly as the actors were in suits but yet nothing else really screamed modern-day. This caused the production to be overwhelmingly disappointing.
Below, poster for NYT’s 2016 performance of Romeo and Juliet.
ACTING
Right, lets move onto the actor’s performances. Let’s start with Juliet. In short, her performance annoyed me. Now, call me hopeful but I think that with a character like Juliet it needs to present an alternative look on her actions due to the volume of performances to compete with. To me, Juliet is presented within the text as spoilt and not very likeable as she assumes the Romeo “wilt say aye” and confess his love for her. Due to the text’s extreme circumstances both of the characters need to react accordingly and this did not happen. Now, I assume that it was the director’s decision but the “Farewell, god knows when we shall meet again” monologue was incredibly rushed thus spoiling the performance. Any monologue like this should be savoured and the actor should take time to relish in performing such incredible words. Not rush through the masterpieces of Shakespeare. Now onto Romeo, who was played by one of my friends so I might be a bit biased with his performance. However, this version of Romeo didn’t present anything original to the role, I place blame on the directors as they may not have presented any alternative version to the young actor. The actor playing the Prince was amazing. He was genuine and strong in his delivery and seemed like the only one who knew what he was saying and the intentions behind it. This was matched with the performance of Mercutio, whose only downfall was the interactions with other characters but due to them and not Mercutio himself. I thought he portrayed the ‘ladish’ nature of the character incredibly well and presented some depth to him. The Nurse, she was amazing. She was comical and presented actual variation in her emotions. It was incredible! She was responsible for showing the relationship between her and Juliet, which should have been a joint effort but the Nurse stepped up and took charge. Which was so incredibly refreshing to see. She didn’t even need to present an alternative interpretation to the character as she did the ‘original version’ so well. The rest of the company was pretty good but didn’t create a lasting impression on me, which isn’t their fault, they weren’t on stage long enough for me to comment on their performance.
STAGING
Right, the stage was a bandstand. In the round. Open air. If you are a regular theatre goer you may already see some issues with this staging. The most notable one was how the bandstand was right next to a tram line. Nothing reminds you that you’re in Croydon like the Wimbledon tram line screeching past every ten minutes. The cast had mics taped to them, this also presented technical issues as cast members were fixing their mics onstage and some of the mics cut out halfway through a speech. Due to the comfort of having microphones, none of the cast felt it necessary to project their voices, which is understandable. However, every now and then myself and the other audience members couldn’t hear anything since the mics weren’t working and the actor failed to project their voice. I would argue that in a production like this one, the directors should have made a choice. Another issue with this staging was how the actors blocked on another. Now, I may be incredibly pedantic but if you are planning to perform a play in the round then maybe figure out a way so that a majority, if not all, of the audience can see the action. This presented issues with the lighting also. Not only was it incredibly plain, but the actors walking through the audience could not be seen once the sun had set. All of a sudden you hear these voices and everyone is terrified as they don’t know where they are coming from.
GENERAL COMMENTS
There was one thing that really irritated me throughout the entire performance, and that was everyone’s difficulty with the name “Capulet”. Everyone said it differently. Which made me question if I had been saying it wrong all these years, then I realised that if I say it the same way as the cast from the NYT production says it then I’m in the clear.
No one knew their lines. It’s as simple as that. And you can’t really mess up on Shakespeare as people in the audience would have studied this play. It’s like playing Lady Macbeth and forgetting half of the “come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts” monologue. Everyone knows that you’ve fluffed your lines. And even if they did know their lines, I am pretty sure that the majority of them did not know the intentions behind each line. If anything left the play more confused about the plot than when I first sat down. Whenever I see a Shakespeare play and I think the cast do not know what they are saying, it really upsets me as it shows that the cast members are not that interested in Shakespeare nor performing his work, as they would have translated it in their own time rather than just learning the lines. It also shows the lack of care from the directors as they have not spent the time to sit with the cast and translate it with them and discuss the intentions and the reasons behind it.
The performance reminded me of the version in Edgar Wright’s “Hot Fuzz”, and sparked the same reaction from me as Sergent Angel’s response in the film. I even found myself asking my sister “when are these two going to die?”, just so I didn’t have to watch any more. The play ran for a total of three and a half hours which is almost remarkable considering Hamlet can comfortably run within three hours.
The overall performance lacked humour when it was needed, was humorous when it was awkward and failed to make me feel any sort of sadness for any of the characters. I’m sorry to say that I would not recommend this play.
Having said all of this, I do think it was an incredibly challenging choice for a company to choose, since Shakespeare requires a lot of effort and thought. With such a large audience reading Shakespeare and studying his work, there are multiple readings of his characters and text which change from person to person. It just so happens that this production didn’t appeal to my views on the play.
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