Theatre review: Romeo and Juliet(Shakespeare's Globe)

After Hamlet on the Titanic and Much Ado About WAGs, this spring's trio of super-high concept Shakespeare productions concludes with Romeo and Juliet: The Western. Although out of these three, Sean Holmes' production at the Globe is the one that engages the least with its high concept, right from the start when it becomes apparent that the cast will be using their own accents instead of going all-in to match the Wild West imagery. Paul Wills' design does fill the stage with cowboys and cowgirls, against a backdrop of swinging saloon doors - though apart from one ominous splash of blood it does all look rather new and clean in the town of Verona, where two families' feud has been a headache for the Sheriff (Dharmesh Patel) for many years. He finally concedes that he can't stop them attacking each other in private, but doing so in public will be on pain of death.

With hate out in the open, love is something to be hidden when young Romeo Montague falls for Juliet Capulet, daughter of the rival family's leader. They get married in secret, so instead of uniting the families, they end up separated when ancient grudge catches up with them. And, being emotionally charged teenagers, they react to their separation with high drama.

Regular readers will both know the play isn't among my favourite Shakespeares, and may even recall that I don't really mind the first half, but rarely enjoy everything after Romeo's banishment. Well Holmes does indeed provide a very strong first half, and if the Western theme isn't particularly reflected in the performances what we get instead is a real focus on the potential for comedy in the play. And there's actually a lot of that potential here, from the giddy enthusiasm of the title characters to the scene-stealing servants (although the usually-reliable Patel's Peter does go a bit too clownish for my personal taste.)

The other big source of energy, as well as the thing that connects to the Cowboy visuals, is Grant Olding's harmonica-heavy music, which Tamsin Hurtado Clarke's choreography uses to turn the masked ball into a barn dance. A lot of the scene-stealing quality of Michael Elcock's Mercutio also comes from the way he moves, always putting himself at the centre of attention, which of course eventually leads to his downfall when he goads Calum Callaghan's Tybalt, a man with a reputation as a hothead even in this company.

From here on in there's not many opportunities for big laughs, and as I suspected this does mean there isn't much to replace them in keeping the momentum going: There's too many lengthy speeches holding up the action, and though the second half is dealt with pretty briskly - the Apothecary speech is among those wisely edited down and the last two acts come in well under an hour - I did also find my attention wandering after the interval, as well as wishing that Friar Lawrence's (John Lightbody) meddling was scrutinised more for the damage it does.

It doesn't help that we get the traditional break from the title characters, and this pair really is the production's biggest strength: Rawaed Asde's Romeo is genuinely sweet, starry-eyed and impossibly charming, while Lola Shalam's Juliet is a real comic force, her own sweetness tempered with a brusque cockney snap whenever she doesn't get her own way. She sounds a lot like Jamie-Rose Monk's Nurse, which only hammers home the way this is the person who actually raised her with any kind of affection, while her father (Colm Gormley) and mother (Léa des Garets) might as well be strangers to her - the latter in particular barely reacts to her daughter's apparent death.

Most of all Asde and Shalam offer up a Romeo and Juliet who feel genuinely young, full of an enthusiasm that helps the action career along whenever they're on stage, as well as making sense of the extreme, angsty responses to every setback that lead the story into its inevitable tragic ending. Holmes' Romeo and Juliet doesn't have a solution for the elements of the play I don't like, and the high concept ends up a bit of a red herring, but the central pairing is what will stay with me about the production.

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is booking until the 2nd of August at Shakespeare's Globe.

Running time: 2 hours 55 minutes including interval.

Photo credit: Tristram Kenton.