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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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Story of woe and boundless talent Romeo & Juliet Stage 2 Crescent Theatre, Birmingham ***** IT would be a
hard-to-please patron who hoped to find more drama than that provided
here by Shakespeare (Wm), modified, tweaked and augmented by director
Light (Liz “Guiding”) in this, the latest superb production by a young
company which, of necessity, changes substantially every year. Fate being what it is, the first-night audience got this unlikely bonus. The first fiery, tumultuous scene after the interval is played on the stage-right balcony, almost within touching distance of those audience members who are sitting at that side of the auditorium. When it ended, the players left their tiny
playing space – and almost immediately, a stage flat, draped in white
cloth, fell forward and crashed onto the safety rail. The immediate
audience gave a collective gasp but lived to tell the tale. And what a tale it is. Yet again, this young
group has been challenged to rise far above what in normal circumstances
would be expectations, and it has met that challenge head-on. Yes, there
are peccadilloes: One or two cast members don't speak up as plainly as
they might, and there is the occasional mumble. But overall, here is a
team of all the talents, sublimely declining to put a foot or a syllable
wrong and even investing the sword-fighting choreography designed by
Wayne Fitzsimmons with a ration of realism that may well have exceeded
his hopes.
The production deserves, and receives,
top-quality support from Charlotte Joberns' lighting. The tomb scene is
one that especially benefits from this, as the body-count increases and
the lamentations become louder. But throughout, this is a venture that proclaims
its own virtues. You don't need subtitles to realise that you have
stumbled on something special. Connor Fox and Priya Edwards are the star-cross'd
lovers, splendid in their maturity, riveting in their fury and their
dying – a pairing that bespeaks the quality that runs through the whole
production, from its tragic twin centrepiece to its excellent young
pages and maids.
The paired Prologues are Rosa Simonet and Jacoba
Williams, who speak both individually and with one voice to leave us in
no doubt that this is going to be a production bursting with the quality
we have come to expect from Stage 2. Alex Earle (Tybalt) and Rowan
Turner-Powell (Mercutio) brim with energy, Tom Booth (the Prince) backs
his height with an authoritative air, and Emily Nabney makes Nurse a
fiery evangelist of the glottal stop. Alexander Butler, powerful of voice and stature,
wears a natural authority as a Capulet who betrays his wife (the
excellent Chloe Jones) in his new-found attentiveness to Lady Montague
(Bernadette O'Toole), and Sam Hotchin is a wordily worthy Friar. There was a first-night standing ovation – then, yet again, Stage 2 sent its audience home in grateful and heady disbelief, although old hands among the patrons know that this happens every time. It is extraordinarily fitting that it ends on Shakespeare's birthday. To 23-04-11 John Slim |
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