Writer: George Bootle
Director: Lukas Rimkus
The story of Shakespeare’s doomed lovers, Romeo & Juliet, is one of his most popular and well-known works, both in his lifetime and beyond. The tragic love affair between the offspring of two feuding Italian families, The Montagues, and Capulets, has inspired many directors of stage and screen from Franco Zeffirelli to Baz Luhrmann. Star-Cross*d bought to you by the Bootlebird Theatre Company, pays homage to the original text with many of the same characters and a similar set-up but is deconstructed and reimagined into a comedy rather than the traditional tragedy.
On the surface, Star-Cross*d bears some distant resemblance to the original Elizabethan drama with traditional costumes, ruffs, and hose galore, and to the ear, there’s a liberal use of ‘thees’ and ‘thous’, but Star-Cross*d is a post-modern, queer mash-up and takes audiences in another direction entirely. Listen closely to the text and you’ll hear all kinds of amusing anachronisms including a reference to Greggs the Bakers and some surprise appearances from characters from other Shakespeare plays. Featuring a cast of 11 which includes lots of multi-roling, Star-Cross*d experiments with form and narrative and is wildly ambitious in scope.
The ambition of the premise, if a little convoluted at times, should be praised and the commitment the cast gives to their performances is impressive. Writer, George Bootle is good value for money as he shuffles on and off stage in his brown cassock and sandals as the camp, weasley and manipulative Friar Lawrence, “an orchestrator of divine destiny.” Also impressive is Rachel Eben from Rose Bruford College as Angelica, the nurse who has commanding stage presence and comic timing. Jonathan Canizales is charismatic as Romeo while the director, Lukas Rimkus steps up as Mercutio who plays a key role in this revamped narrative.
There’s a whole range of acting approaches here from the naturalistic, conversational Will Knights as Benvolio and the super-wired- and hyped-up Charlie Patterson as Tybalt and Lucio. The original music composed by Annie Napier who plays imperious Lady Capulet, hits all the right emotional notes and manages to heighten battle scenes, create tension, bring joy to banquet scenes, and pathos to sadder moments.
This cavalcade of recent graduates predominantly from the London School of Dramatic Art, give their all in this show. It has a fresh out-of-drama school feel and as a showcase for new talent, it’s an effective platform but as a piece of cohesive drama, less so. While it is exuberant and energetic with many confident performances, at two hours, 20 with a 10-minute interval, it’s unwieldy, unfashionably long (for pub theatre) and would benefit from a stringent edit. Plenty of action happens offstage which means lots of shouting and flurrying, which can be confusing for the audience. There’s some visually effective use of tableau vivant at the end of the first half and it’s clear, the cast and crew are having a ball throughout.
Absolutely not for Shakespeare purists, Star-cross*d is at times funny, often messy and with much evidence of promising new talent.
Runs until 18 January 2024