There was much anticipation for the RSC's 2018 production of Romeo and Juliet, which promised a fresh, modern retelling by a youthful cast. Yet with the Globe's abstract 2017 production still fresh in people's minds, and with the RSC's recent Macbeth pushing modernisation to inaccessible levels, audiences could have been apprehensive about how the production would be handled. But under Erica Whyman's experienced direction and Tom Piper's acclaimed design, the production excelled. Here's my thoughts.
I don't wish to dwell on comparisons between Emma Rice's 2017 Romeo and Juliet, and this RSC production, but it's a good place to start. Both productions sought to bring this much-studied playtext to life in a way that would engage audience members of the same demographic as its characters: the youth. Romeo and Juliet is a prime play to teach in schools, because it tells the story of girls and boys of pupil-like age, who are going through the same issues surrounding adolescence: love, anxiety, and anger; identity, individuality, and mental illness. That it often meets with groans and rolled-eyes in the classroom is something both the 2017 Globe and 2018 RSC productions sought to rectify.
Emma Rice's approach was unsurprisingly zany - a final hurrah in a psychedelic season at Shakespeare's Globe which, unfortunately, got her booted from her position as Artistic Director. Everything, from costumes to the set to the music choices, was amped up to the maximum: the characters were painted with clown make-up, reflecting their inner sadness versus their external masquerades; the stage was garishly lit, making full use of the trapdoors, wings and pit, with nuclear warheads hanging from the heavens. Everything alluded to the innate violence within the play, from an early 'rockem sockem'-style boxing match, to Tybalt barking and crawling around as Capulet's attack-dog. Sure, it was entertaining: pupils in the audience delighted as Romeo's 'emo' moments, and could write a clever analysis on the way the clown make-up got increasingly smudged throughout the play, and how this reflects the deterioration of character within the play. But it was too outlandish, too nonsensical at times - especially when in comparison to the RSC's 2018 production.
Whyman's take, by contrast, was tactful and sensitive. More than just appealing to a youthful 21st-century audience, it spoke to them specifically: it spoke of them - of their reality, their society, and the issues most pressing to them. At this, many productions might have failed, being unmistakably governed by older generations and appearing to talk down to the youth. But Whyman, through pitch-perfect casting, costume, and staging choices, succeeded in giving a fully-realised production that tackled difficult and commonly-misunderstood subjects in a genuine and believable way.
Romeo and Juliet, by nature, is a story which shows an opposition in generations: there is a troupe of young characters, and of older characters - parents and people of authority whose mistakes and oversights have devastating effects on their offspring. This diversity in ages was represented in this production, with experienced actors Michael Hodgson, Ishia Bennison, and Andrew French taking on the roles of Capulet, Nurse, and Friar Laurence. Bally Gill and Karen Fishwick as Romeo and Juliet are both in their twenties, as are Charlotte Josephine as Mercutio and Josh Finan as Benvolio. School children from across the country were enrolled in the cast to play minor roles and move set pieces. In an interesting twist, Lady Capulet is portrayed by Mariam Haque, whose age conveys a deeper story to this character - a young bride to the older Lord Capulet, yet still of an age to be Juliet's mother, it gives context to why the Capulets are at ease with marrying their 13-year-old daughter off so young.
Overall, the production exceeds in terms of representation, with diverse casting choices presenting a wide range of human experience. Gill, Haque, and Sakuntala Ramanee (Lady Montague) are British Asian; French, Afolabi Alli (Paris), and Raphael Sowole (Tybalt) are black. And not only in terms of race - the production strives for more gender equality in its cast, most prominantly in casting female actor Josephine as Mercutio. More minor male characters, such as Friar John, Gregory, and the Prince, are also recast as female, but what makes Josephine's performance so stand-out is that, as well as Mercutio being a bigger role, she is portraying a masculine female. With punk-style attire, a buzzcut, and a swaggering walk, she shows the range in the female experience and the fluidity of gender. Gender and sexuality, Josephine explains in an interview for The Stage, is a 'sliding scale', something she encapsulates in the way Mercutio is able 'to flirt like a woman one minute and like a man the next'. Portraying Mercutio as a female broadens our understanding of women as beings with equal desire for 'fighting and fucking' as men, and puts Mercutio's comment on the 'male gaze' into sharp, redefined relief. Josephine gives an energetic, yet equally tragic, performance as this versatile character.
Another notable performance was given by Finan as Benvolio. Often a rather dry character, given little depth in performance when alongside the lovelorn Romeo and the bawdy Mercutio, this production developed a whole other dimension to this character, without detracting from the main plot. Benvolio speaks of Romeo's lovesick wanderings tenderly, confesses he would 'rather weep' at the oppression which plagues his friend, and when the youth is explaining his love, Benvolio prompts suggestively 'who is it that you love', 'tell me who'. Finan captures Benvolio's subtle but saddening disappointment at Romeo's answer; his sudden glee at hearing Rosaline has 'sworn that she will still live chaste', his adoring caress of Romeo's cheek as he advises 'be ruled by me'. Rather than interpreting Mercutio as being in love with Romeo, as has been done before, the RSC production fleshed out the role of Benvolio by presenting him as a youth tentatively and excitedly exploring his sexuality and his budding love interests. Such LGBTQ representation is weaved seamlessly and sensitively into the play - understated, yet to young people in the audience discovering their own preferences, it holds great significance.
With such wide representation, and in joining the discourse of many current issues (domestic abuse, knife crime, gang culture, mental illness), this RSC production runs the risk of being condemned by critics as 'trying to be too PC'. Indeed only recently, they met with disturbing comments made by Daily Mail reviewer Quentin Letts, who wondered if actor Leo Wringer was cast in the RSC production of The Fantastic Follies of Mrs Rich 'because he is black'. The company expressed how appalled they were by such 'blatantly racist' comments, and despite Letts' opinion that 'politically correct casting has again weakened its stage product', shows no sign of stopping. Romeo and Juliet strives to achieve what all productions should do, intrinsically and unquestioningly: present the world and its people as they appear in real life, without white-washing, gender bias, or marginalisation of minority communities.
I was hugely impressed by the RSC's production of Romeo and Juliet - not just for the factors detailed above, but also for its set design, stage effects, music, and choreography. With its faithfulness to a 21st-century reality, I am positive that young people, pupils, teachers and scholars alike will find this a compelling, moving, and appealing rendition of a oft-taught classic. No rolled-eyes here.
Romeo and Juliet plays at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon until 21 September 2018. It will then be followed by a run at London's Barbican Theatre from 2 November to 19 January 2019. It will be broadcast live to cinemas on 18 July 2018.
Photo credits:
The company of the RSC's Romeo and Juliet (2018), by Topher McGrillis, found here.
The company of the Globe's Romeo and Juliet (2017), found here.
Bally Gill and Karen Fishwick as Romeo and Juliet at the RSC, by Topher McGrillis, found here.
Charlotte Josephine as Mercutio in the RSC's Romeo and Juliet (2018), by Topher McGrillis, found here.
Josh Finan as Benvolio in the RSC's Romeo and Juliet (2018), by Topher McGrillis, found here.
Andrew French as Friar Laurence in the RSC's Romeo and Juliet (2018), by Topher McGrillis, found here.
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