AFTER a mixed reception on its opening back in 2019, & Juliet has certainly found its feet and its audience through successful West End and Broadway runs and a number of international productions, and is now barrelling its way around the UK with all the momentum of the pantechnicon that must be needed to transport this impressively staged touring production.
William Shakespeare has arrived at the Shoreditch theatre, generally considered to be the most likely venue for the premiere of Romeo and Juliet. As the players set up for the opening performance, the bard’s wife Anne Hathaway arrives – she has uncharacteristically left the children in Stratford and taken a night off to see the play, but she isn’t impressed by Will’s just-penned ending, in which Juliet takes her own life following the death of Romeo. Anne suggests that a strong-willed girl like Juliet wouldn’t curl up and die after one brief teenage relationship and, with a lot of encouragement from the company, the reluctant author agrees to a reworked ending in which Juliet survives and moves on… remarkably swiftly. Will’s decision to bring Romeo back to life too sets the cat among the pigeons in good style, and the plot thickens.
As juke-box musicals go, this one meets with remarkable success in weaving song titles and lyrics into the story. From ‘I Want it That Way’ to ‘Oops! I Did it Again’ in the first act and from ‘Since U Been Gone’ to ‘That’s the Way it Is’ in the second, the blending of David West Read’s book with a big chunk of songwriter Max Martin’s huge catalogue of hits is quite a feat of ingenuity. There are times when it can feel as though a few too many sub-plots have been packed into the narrative, with the main thrust of female empowerment diluted somewhat by a range of other ideas, but the delivery is done with such big heart, good humour and youthful energy that the occasional confused or mixed messages are easily forgiven.
The cast are spectacular, headed by stellar performances from Lara Denning and Matt Cardle as Anne and Will, and Geraldine Sacdalan and Jack Danson as Juliet and Romeo. Other highlights are Kyle Cox as Francois De Bois, a potential replacement for Romeo who finds himself on a journey of self discovery, Sandra Marvin as Juliet’s very practical and witty nurse, Angelique, and Jordan Broatch as May, whose non-binary character perplexingly finds themself singing ‘I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman’ shortly before becoming the subject of Francois’ ‘I Kissed a Girl’ (a sub-plot that affords a rich and clever source for discussion over Shakespeare’s gender-fluid characterisations)
The only possible misfire is the frankly bizarre choice of Ranj Singh in the role of Francois’ tyrannical father, Lance. Wooden, and the only character to play with a feigned French accent (something that gives rise to a joke in the dialogue) Singh feels like a stooge in a panto, an effect especially noticeable in a couple of set pieces played out in front of a drop cloth that cover major scene changes, but this is a small flaw in an otherwise unblemished cast.
Soutra Gilmour’s visually stunning set is spectacularly lit by Howard Hudson, and enhanced by complex animated video design from the virtuoso Andrzej Goulding. The band (hidden from view) under the direction of Marcus Carter-Adams performs Bill Sherman’s orchestrations with more than sufficient energy to make this feel almost like gig-theatre, whilst Gareth Owen’s sound design ensures that neither the dialogue nor the lyrics ever feel swamped.
With director Luke Sheppard keeping everything tightly together throughout the constant thrust of the story, and Jennifer Weber’s exuberant, athletic choreography, the cast feel to be in very safe hands indeed and unsurprisingly bring the house down at the show’s exuberant conclusion.
& Juliet is at Liverpool Empire until 2nd November with a BSL interpreted performance on 31st Oct and audio description available on 1st November. It then continues touring with dates booking through to June 2025.
Star rating: 4½ stars
Review by Nigel Smith
