Romeo and Juliet at Theatre by the Lake Keswick Review

DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW

Reviewed by Jo Hardy

Produced by Theatre by the Lake and in association with Shakespeare North Playhouse and Graeme Theatre Company, who are known for their work deaf, disabled and neurodivergent talent.

I think most people will be familiar with Shakespeare’s tragic story of Romeo and Juliet who fall in love despite their families being enemies and have probably seen the story told in many different ways, like me it could also bring back memories of school productions long ago.

When I saw the very minimal stage set I knew this was going to be very different, the background was all black, there were three large TV screens and a poles and rope queuing system in the centre of the stage similar to the type you see at the post office and couple of benches. This wasn’t the Verona I was expecting. The poles were very versatile and cleverly became part of most scenes.

This version of Romeo and Juliet is set in an audition waiting room, we meet each character as they arrive for the audition and a description of them comes onto the large tv screens, while they are getting to know each other a script falls from the ceiling, it’s for Romeo and Juliet so they decide to give it a go while they are waiting.

The cast of nine are all deaf, disabled or neurodivergent, each performance is relaxed and includes sign language and audio descriptions, there’s no real costumes they are all wearing every day clothes apart from a few items that were in the room.

It took me a while to settle into this, there’s so much going on I didn’t know what to focus on, there were two people playing Romeo and two people playing Juliet at the same time, with two people signing for them plus captions on the big screens above, my eyes were all over the place. I eventually settled into it and was much more relaxed in the second half.

I’ve always found Shakespeare a bit on the dark side and don’t understand all the words but there was enough humour in this production to lighten it up, the captions on the screen to introduce each scene were also funny. I particularly enjoyed the musical statue disco dancing, not what you expect in a Shakespeare production but it did fit in.

Overall it was a very different but enjoyable show and the cast were exceptional. The way they stopped for the interval was hilarious more or less said they were going to the pub and they would see us later.

At the end the audience showed their appreciation in the usual way and in sign language which looked like little hand stars bursting all over the theatre.

You can see this production in the main house at Theatre by the Lake from 12 – 26 October shows start at 7.30 and there are matinees on selected dates, the show runs for two hours including an intermission.
book your seat using this link www.theatrebythelake.com.

Rating: 3/4