Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
6 July | Château de Bourglinster | Play
If you are a bit of a theatre buff, well your luck is truly in this weekend. ‘Bug’ is still running in the Theatre Nationale, and a French version of ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ plays in the Abbaye de Neumünster on Sunday. To round it all off on Monday there’s a simply knockout production of Romeo and Juliet by the world renowned English theatre company TNT, in the beautiful surroundings of the Château de Bourglinster.
Our cup floweth over.
Director Paul Stebbings, who also founded the group, directed Romeo and Juliet for TNT five years ago. This newer version, currently touring, draws on that previous experience to create something which we are told will chart “a new and exciting course”.
What follows are Stebbings director’s notes on the production and may help to give you an inkling of what to expect.
‘West Side Story’ and Leonardo di Caprio’s recent gangster version, cast long shadows on this delicate play. But this is not a play about poor urban street fighters, nor a play about racial conflict. The Capulets and Montagues are of the same caste and share the same values. Their retainers fight on the streets. Shakespeare is criticising their joint values, which are those of powerful families. This is, of course, the stuff of tragedy: when the mighty sin the state trembles. The “star crossed lovers” deaths expose the follies of the vicious clan warfare that their families perpetuate. Those families are reformed and reconciled. None of this makes any sense if Romeo is some broke and hip street kid. The Montagues and Capulets are two sides of the same coin.
They are also Italian. And so one starting point of our production is to stay with Shakespeare’s torrid Latin setting. We choose to locate the production in Baroque Italy - the world of Casanova, Don Juan, Vivaldi and Bernini Italy, where clan violence, dignity, aristocracy, Catholicism, arranged marriages and chaste love are all imaginable. A world where the symbolic becomes real is a myriad statues and paintings that flit between love and death - Eros and Thanatos - the tension at the heart of this bloody romance.
The play is highly stylised, masked balls and ritual violence form set pieces. We will employ stylised choreography and once again commission a live musical score from a leading composer. While establishing a rich theatrical environment we will also strive to maintain a Shakespearian style that relies on the actor’s skills and audience’s imagination rather than complex settings and design. As with our current acclaimed production of HAMLET, we will attempt to present the play rather than impose a simplistic interpretation on the original. “Romeo and Juliet” is one of the most popular plays ever written, we aim to present it with its poetry and romance intact, while delivering a powerful, stylised drama.
Not to be missed, whether you are a seasoned theatre goer or trying Shakespeare out for the first time.
Starts 19h30 - €22
I’ve been to this production, albeit different plays, 3 years running and I highly recommend it! I think though my personal favourite has been the one with the English lout, football jersey and all, heckling the crowd before the performance - yes modern adoptions hey are. That particular play was The Taming of the Shrew.
Round of applause again to the touring troupe - ‘mais’ BIG thumbs down for the members of the local production staff who insisted on verbalising at an audible level almost throughout the entire first half of the production, their whispers carrying across the courtyard and distracting much of the right side audience [can't comment on the second half they moved to the left side - left siders, any comments?]
Also another BIG thumbs down to the sound guy - who practically had a tizzy fit when there was some electrical problem and flustered very noticeable for about 15mins! Also not forgetting to mention the hilarious mishap where he almost dived head first into the audio desk after it appears he missed a cue because he was busy chatting to someone in his mobile - YES! We heard you too… Funny enough he still took a bow for his efforts!!!
Hats off to the actors - those people mentioned there on production SHAME ON YOU!
Leave your response!
Restaurants »
Il Cherubino
Probably two of the five greatest meals I’ve had, have been Italian. One was a major family affair when a ‘mamma’ of a friend of mine produced four courses that I can still remember now, thirty years later. Another was in a bakery in Tuscany.
SCENE.LU recommends!
Categories
Login