Writer & Director: Freddy Just
Runs until: 1 April 2023
“All you need is love… it’s easy”
It may well be easy for some, but for Jonathon ‘Romeo’ Hanley and Julie Montague, the word love sends a
shiver down their spines as they are reminded of past tensions and conflicting emotions whilst on their journey to find their happy ever after.
This is Shakespeare with a twist; a modern day twist full of comedy and tragedy in equal measure. The play begins with Jonathon belting out his finest operatic voice, fully appreciated by his bathroom shower every morning, but also by his flatmate Julie. You would be forgiven for assuming that Jonathon and Julie are a happily married couple: as we are first introduced to them, their emotional connection is clear from the start, but this only adds to the tragedy and heartbreak that unfolds. The two of them are navigating life in their 50s together, cohabiting for the past ten years, but the fierce battle between head and heart plays havoc with their emotions as roommates is all they are and are perhaps destined to always be. This doesn’t stop the two of them partaking in all of the usual couple activities… like cutting each other’s toenails? This is one of many scenes which forces continuous laughter out of the audience.
Freddy Just is the writer, director and lead role in this production. Just does an excellent job in balancing comedy with tragedy throughout, especially with a very light-hearted beginning to engage the audience and make us connect with both characters and their journeys.
In the role of Jonathon, Just portrays a man with a delicate personality, full of playfulness and laughter, but with confusion and hopelessness layered in there as he wrestles with what is right for his future. Julie (Tracey Smith) is the other leading role in the play, and both actors do well to share an entirely believable and intimate connection throughout which sucks the audience in to appreciate their dilemmas. Rachel Slater is the only other performer we see on stage as she demonstrates her musical talent as a violinist between scenes. This role could have perhaps been utilised more. There is also a moment near the end of the play where it feels like it would have been a more fitting ending; an ending which would have encapsulated the feelings of heartbreak more vividly and more accurately painted the challenges they faced.
As is typical with fringe theatre, this is a small company working in sync to put on a moving and deeply personal piece of theatre. A mention must also go to James Stevens who delivers on providing the atmospheric sound and lighting to complement the writing well.
Romeo and Julie explores a range of complex themes; most notably love, but also identity, labels, and the unwritten rules of society that place pressures on us all. The play questions how much these perceived rules and labels restrict us in doing what we really want. A quote from Julie in the play summarises it well; “What has conditioned you so that you can only love one colour of the rainbow?”
Bewdley Town Criers have done a fine job in delivering some of these hard-hitting messages and it is a piece of theatre worth watching not only to make you laugh and cry, but to reflect on society. Romeo and Julie only has a short run at the Old Joint Stock in Birmingham, so catch it while you can.
Runs until: 1 April 2023
