JULIET & ROMEO

It’s a witty but somewhat perverse concept that rather than dying in that tomb, Romeo and Juliet survive. But in this very contemporary fusion of theatre and dance they do. Twenty years on they sit before us in a TV therapy style situation where we the audience are acknowledged and invited to explore their current and failing relationship.

Juliet is the more confident party, challenging Romeo, and the audience, by exposing her dissatisfaction with her life now. Romeo is less confident, mumbling and embarrassed by her forthright statements about his apparent sexual failings. It’s funny, very funny, but it is also very heartfelt, very real.

As the auditorium lights dim, they start to re-enact the memories of how they met and how, despite Shakespeare’s script, they survive. But in that we discover Romeo’s secret.

This piece of theatre delves into the nature of relationships and how they change. The challenges of family dissent, of exile and of parenthood are portrayed with, on one level, humour but also with heartbreaking realness.

Emily Terndrup is a wonderfully real Juliet, confident and fragile in equal measure, and her physical presence in the dance is both elegant and angry. Her energy is electric, sharpness balanced with fluidity, anger matched by calm. An utterly believable wife and mother is mid-life meltdown.

John Kendall is Romeo, a loping and comedic presence but one tinged with a real sadness and a secret that undermines that tragic real ending of the bard’s play. His character balances reluctance and embarrassment so well, Juliet’s demands pushing him to expose his memories until finally he…

Juliet & Romeo is a finely crafted collaboration of creative voices, one that is both entertaining and provocative. The use of both contemporary and classical music works well and the choices made are appropriately placed alongside the narrative thread. Time changes things, life moves on, nothing is constant or guaranteed, 75 minutes of theatre clearly explores the fragility of humanity, and of relationships and is properly engaging.

Andrew Kay

12 November

Brighton Corn Exchange

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