Romeo & Juliet

What I liked

I thoroughly enjoyed the comic relief characters (Mercutio, the nurse), and the shift in the play following Mercutio’s death was visceral. The production also managed to play with some of the language and jokes by merging them with modern concepts (I.e Nurse vaping-“can’t you see that I am out of breath?”) which I found to be a lot of fun. The relationships between all of the characters (especially Romeo, Mercutio and Benvolio) seemed to be very well developed as well.

What I didn't like

The main area that could have been improved would be some of the staging and the projection of some of the actor’s voices. Sometimes depending on where you were located in the audience it could be quite difficult to hear and/or see what was going on clearly. The message was usually clear and having a familiarity With the play helped me keep up though.

My overall impression

This modern adaptation of Romeo and Juliet is a lot of fun. They keep true to the original story, but cut out the excess that is not necessarily needed. Putting it in a modern setting helps with understanding the play, even with the outdated language. Very reminiscent of Baz Lurhmann’s adaptation while still managing to be an original take on the material. All in all, very well done.