Fannish Fifty: Romeo & Juliet (Bourne)

[smallhobbit]

On Thursday we went to Sadler's Wells to see New Adventures perform Sir Matthew Bourne's Romeo & Juliet.  I first saw this in 2019 in its initial run, but was keen to see it again.  It remains a very powerful production, although having seen it before some of the 'gasp' moments didn't have quite the same effect.  Inevitably, I had forgotten how some of the parts of the plot were joined, but it just proves that I always prefer to remain spoiler free, when it's a new production.

I still have Prokofiev's music playing in my head - good job I like it!  I think this time I also thought more about some of the issues the production highlights with the way vulnerable people are treated, and there are many ways people can be vulnerable.

This time I saw Jackson Fisch as Romeo and Monique Jonas as Juliet - I'd particularly hoped to see her in the role.  Danny Reubens was Tybalt, Rory Macleod was Mercutio and Paris Fitzpatrick was Balthasar.  I like seeing various dancers I've also seen in other productions.

Unlike many of New Adventures productions this is a strongly monochrome design, emphasising the anonymity of the characters, with most dressed in white and colour being used to stress something different, and is very effective.

This is different from many of the productions I've seen, but definitely enjoyable and I'd recommend seeing it if you are in the UK when it goes on tour, or even in Los Angeles (Jan/Feb 24) or Paris (March 24).  It does come with a content warning and an age recommendation of 14+ - the issues are ones that are encountered in life, but may not be ones you wish to watch when seeking entertainment.

Comments

[rusty_armour]

I'm glad you enjoyed this production of Romeo and Juliet. I think it's good that the production chooses to highlight how vulnerable people are treated and in what ways people can be vulnerable. The monochrome design sounds interesting. I like the way that it was chosen to emphasize the anonymity of the characters. I would imagine that colour might be used to show the difference between the two houses or to highlight personality traits in certain characters.

[smallhobbit]

Yes, in this version it's more the system which is against the young people, rather than the two houses against each other, so those who represented the system tended to be in dark clothing while the young people all wore white.