Redefining Juliet: Storme Toolis – Barbican, London

Artistic Director: Storme Toolis

Director: Robin Norton Hale

Reviewer: Maryam Philpott

While Shakespeare’s plays can run to thousands of lines with a timeless understanding of the interior human world, the appearance of his characters is less defined. Yet think of any part and almost certainly an expectation of their age, physical shape and size comes to mind, especially for the female roles. Storme Toolis wants us to see that those ideas are externally imposed by production history, that broadening our perspective on casting can bring greater insight, she is Redefining Juliet.

In 2016, the BBC aired a documentary of the same name following Toolis and her company as they opened-up the character of Juliet as a performance archetype. This led to a work-in-progress reading at the RSC in the summer and now three different actors perform a 45-minute exploration of how beauty and femininity are challenged by societal expectations of gender and the supposed limits of disability, proving that Shakespeare understood more about emotional commonality than we do today.

Three Juliets appear on stage, couched in an eighteenth-century idea of classical drama, draped curtains, pseudo-medieval gowns, chaise lounges and plenty of fruit and flower bowls. Kate Lane’s design purposefully looks like a still life painting, pointing both to the romanticism of playing Juliet which attracts each of the performers, as well as how stationery our idea of the character has become, 200 years out of date.

Athena Stevens, James Le Lacheur and Lara Steward each perform scenes from Romeo and Juliet, reciting monologues as the leading female role, while occasionally stepping in as other characters. A reasonable knowledge of the text is useful as Toolis and Director Robin Norton Hale run quickly through Juliet’s highlights, largely removing other events and characters to give the actors the maximum possible time to perform as their favourite heroine.

At a few carefully chosen moments, each performer breaks away from Shakespeare’s text to present their thesis to the audience; Stewart explains her frustration with being told how “brave” she is, and the continual implication that being deaf means she cannot behave like everyone else; Le Lacheur shares a school experience of not being able to play the desired role due to a teacher’s gender restrictions, exploring the concept of identity, dysmorphia and feeling “trans enough”, while Juliet’s suicide resonates with Stevens who felt a similar urge after a relationship break-up but also resents other’s expectation of gratitude for accommodating her requirements.

Although Stevens concludes with an interesting monologue about outgrowing Juliet and finding a different way forward, there is much more to say about the fascinating hold she must have for these actors. They clearly relish the chance to perform the role, bringing different approaches and meaning, but it would be interesting to understand why Juliet specifically appeals rather than characters with greater agency like Isabella or Rosalind, and what in particular about Juliet inspires each of them – is there an essential romantic femininity that is universally appealing regardless of the exterior form?

Redefining Julietis a really valuable conversation to be having about the way we perceive particular roles and how narrowly productions have interpreted the text. As well as the chance to perform the lines, as part of the show each of these actors could have more to say about how they came to the role and what it means to them. For Shakespeare, of course, his Juliet would be written for and played by a young man so perhaps we are now too obsessed with how things look on the outside, it’s the Juliet you feel inside that counts.

Reviewed on 30 November 2018 | Image: Contributed