Theatre / Reviews
Review: Romeo & Juliet, Bristol Old Vic – ‘Kyle Ndukuba and Mia Khan shine bright’
William Shakespeare’s iconic play is brought sharply into the present at Bristol Old Vic, with well-crafted multi-syllabic rhymes and a renewed youthfulness. This production of Romeo and Juliet will succeed in bringing new eyes to theatre, but is ultimately never at home.
Young is something nobody stays. Even the titular characters, strangely immortalised in teenage death, are 400 years older now than when first performed on stage. In choosing to collaborate with young people from Coventry Academy, That’s A Rap have sought to visit a renewed youthfulness upon the archetypical teenagers.
Those of us with the good fortune to rely on Bristol’s public transport system for getting from A to B arrived at the theatre last night with a sense of what to expect. During the valuable alone time spent waiting for late or altogether make-believe buses, most of us I presume have noticed the very many print adverts for the show on stops around the city. The sense of what to expect is conveyed by the S. Cross’d. L’s wearing wired headphones, and the word ‘RAP’ written in the corner.
is needed now More than ever
Romeo and Juliet, Bristol Old Vic – artwork: Feast Creative
Bold reimaginings of iconic texts are wont to be met with scepticism. This is not a tendency wholly alien to me, as a reader yet to forgive Stephen Fry for mucking about with the unimprovable work of PG Wodehouse. Fry – whose unpardonable adaptation for screen I have been boycotting since in utero – could not in one thousand lifetimes apologise sufficiently to fans of the great man’s work.
What, then, of this?
In Director Corey Campbell’s stated aim of opening up the world of Shakespeare to new and diverse audiences, he has likely succeeded. And the engagement of young people with theatre is to be roundly encouraged. But this is a main stage production at Bristol Old Vic, and has to be reviewed relative to that standard.
Kyle Ndukuba as Romeo
The show never quite finds its footing; it is never one thing or the other. Some characters wear suits, whereas others wear tracksuits. One character says Bredrin, the same character says Thy (in the same scene). Priti Patel joins us briefly via video to deliver a speech in Parliament. The same screen then projects a flashback of Tybalt and Mercutio’s fight, identical to the fight we just saw on stage, but now outside in a park. The lyrics to the newly-written sections are projected now, then not. These three elements (found footage, play footage, captioning) happen just once each, with no meaningful attempt to integrate them into the wider production. They feel like three different shows. This discordance is a recurring difficulty.
With that said, the newly-written sections are brilliant. The multi-syllabic rhymes – a personal passion of mine – are incredibly sophisticated. “Tybalt like a fool returned to the scene of the crime / Romeo wanted vengeance, I saw the gleam in his eye” (I guess they couldn’t find a home for “piece of the pie” there). The songs, newly written R&B numbers played with a live band, are often gorgeous. Even amongst actors, it’s clear that the cast are especially talented singers.
Mia Khan as Juliet and Kyle Ndukuba as Romeo
And amongst the cast, it is the titular characters who shine brightest. Romeo (Kyle Ndukuba) and Juliet (Mia Khan) bring an enlivening and frenetic emotionality. Ndukuba captures so well the thrill and bravado of a teenage boy in love, and Khan’s Juliet is simply shattering.
The actual cost inflicted by the sheer busyness of this production, beyond the dislocating impact it has on its audience, is all the time it doesn’t spend telling its own story. The vision for this production was political. Priti Patel’s speech was about street violence. Mock elections were held between Capulet and Montague in the foyer of the theatre. The implication – I think – is that the stubbornness of ageing political figures is to blame for young people stabbing each other to death, both in the play and in modern England.
Kyle Ndukuba as Romeo & Mia Khan as Juliet
But Romeo and Juliet – and don’t shout at me here – is just not an especially political play. It is a Shakespearean masterpiece and so yes, obviously, it has political subtext and undertones. But it’s about as straightforwardly a personal tragedy as you’re ever going to want to read, centred as closely on two characters and their romantic relationship as a play could possibly be. In short, it’s a love story. It’s the love story.
Success or otherwise in conveying that beating heart of this script is what all productions must be fundamentally judged upon. And this love was lost in a multimedia haze of political half-points and lexiconic erraticism.
Ensemble, Romeo & Juliet
Having slept on it, I think this production should have been an entirely re-written pastiche of the original script, with the same story composed entirely of rap and song, and with some modernised title. If the same collaborative forces conspired to create that show, I would buy a ticket quite confident in enjoying it.
The whiplash of Tybalt’s transition from a drill section (read: ‘bredrin’) back to the original script, particularly the original script as delivered by Tybalt himself, is just too much to ask of an audience. Call me old fashioned if you will, but I feel quite confident in saying that. Though, as a working class poet turned playwright whose rap battle win column stands at above zero, I was kind of the perfect audience for this show. And I really tried to like it.
Romeo and Juliet is at Bristol Old Vic on March 12-April 5 at 7.30pm with additional 2.30pm matinee shows on Thursday and Saturday (no shows Sunday). Tickets are available at www.bristololdvic.org.uk.
The show is a co-production with Bristol Old Vic, Belgrade Theatre and Hackney Empire.
All photos: Nicola Young
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