Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

A shrill, ugly, tasteless muddle: Romeo & Juliet reviewed

Plus: why has Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner, a glib and aggressive play, been garlanded with awards?

Scruffy, rowdy, poorly acted and often incomprehensible: Romeo & Juliet at The Globe. Image: Marc Brenner

What shall we destroy next? Romeo & Juliet seems a promising target and the Globe has set out to vandalise Shakespeare’s great romance with a scruffy, rowdy, poorly acted and often incomprehensible modern-dress production. It starts with two lads having a swordfight using curtain poles. Enter the Prince who fires a gun and halts the action. Then the preaching starts. ‘Rather than trying to understand the nature of the violence, the Prince threatens the community,’ says an actor. These intrusions continue. ‘Patriarchy,’ says someone else, ‘is a system in which men hold power.’ The slogan appears on a screen as well. (Patriarchy means ‘fathers’ holding power rather than ‘men’ but perhaps it’s unfair to expect anyone at the Globe to speak English.)

I was surrounded by yawning, distracted youngsters who seemed far too bored to follow the action

Next comes an advert for big pharma. ‘Twenty per cent of young people experience depression before they reach adulthood,’ says a performer. ‘Seventy-five per cent of children with mental health problems aren’t receiving treatment.’ The claim that depression is a disorder that requires chemical remedies rather than a common but unpleasant experience that can be overcome with willpower is relatively new. And it’s being promoted by medics who seek to enrich themselves by hooking the next generation on antidepressants. Perhaps the Globe should challenge these dope-pedlars rather than abetting them.

Then comes a new slogan — ‘it’s dangerous for women to go outside alone’ — which expresses a view shared by supporters of Sharia law. These invasive, brain-needling messages are compounded by multiple errors of direction. Jazz music destroys the Queen Mab speech. Loud trumpets drown out Romeo during the balcony scene. The fight sequences are confusing because it’s impossible to distinguish Montague from Capulet. (Tip: costumes of different colours can be helpful here.)

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