York International Shakespeare Festival: The Flanagan Collective's Romeo and Juliet
I'll admit it: Romeo and Juliet is not amongst my favourite Shakespeare plays. I often find myself uncomfortable at productions which attempt to dress the young lover's "violent delights" in a suit of serious and sombre love. The play itself, for me at least, smacks of pubescent lust and attraction; an impetuous face of Shakespearean love which gets thrown by the wayside as adaptations try to emphasis a 'high tragedy' style sophisticated relationship. Thankfully, The Flanagan Collective's all female production, staged at St. Olave's church in York, was like a convincing and refreshing breath from Juliet's borrow likeness of death.
 |
| Emma Ballantine as Romeo and Amie Burns-Walker as Juliet. Photo by James Drury. |
Romeo and Juliet is of course a play
of first love; young, reckless, passionate and impatient. Youth and energy were a focal
point of this production even from before the famous lines began running; as children and cast members
broke into impromptu balloon sword fights and games of tig, leaping over
pews as if we weren't about to light the fuse on a devastating romantic
tragedy. It’s a bit of a cliché that Romeo and Juliet misses being a comedy by
a matter of minutes, but The Flanagan Collective and the audience at St Olave’s
were reminded to catch that brief comic spirit of the play. Rather, this
production shone a light to argue just how young Romeo and Juliet are and how fun
it is to be so young.
A highlight was the young lover’s first
meeting. The narrative foreplay that Shakespeare has written so beautifully
into talk of saints and palmers was manifested as a flirtatious hide and seek
chase between the pews. Romeo and Juliet, like a pair of rebellious school kids
on the bus, shared a first kiss whilst sat on the furthest row back. It was
refreshing, endearing, playful and downright sexy. This high energy chase of
excitement grew into a sophisticated and brave physical sequence for the wedding night. Rather than what may often feel like an episode of sexual voyeurism upon the young couple, The Flanagan Collective approached their heavily cut (more on this later) scene with a
perceptive and beautifully choreographed illustration of their growing
emotional connection.
 |
| Amie Burns-Walker as Juliet. Photo by James Drury. |
Staging the production in the ornate St
Olave’s Church made the space into a playground for the boundless
imagination of this company. Of course I should have seen this coming, but giving the
audience confetti to throw on the newly-wed Romeo and Juliet as they walked down
an actual aisle was inspired.
The Flanagan Collective had taken Tybalt's ruthless fencing skills to the play's text and presented a very streamline edit. So streamline, in fact, everyone's favourite hapless suitor (sorry, Cloten) was completely ousted from the play's final scene. While this lent more tragic focus to the production’s well rounded
and engaging star-crossed lovers, it rendered Paris an even more two dimensional and peripheral
character than the play makes him out to be. Paris as a character seems to
demand a go-kitsch-or-go-home performance. Where productions have played up the
clingy discomfort with which he woos Juliet to hilarious effect, it felt
as though this one didn't quite know what to do with him (or, rather, with
her).
 |
| Sarah Davies and Holly Beasley Carrigan partying at the Capulet ball. Photo by James Drury. |
Making cuts as they had done to the
text does invite such fatalities, yet this slimline text made for a production
in which the focus fell largely on a near flawless portrayal of young love. The
Flanagan Collective went above and beyond with their interactive set, sparkling
and vibrant soundtrack as well as utterly vivacious physical theatre to create
the most faithful communication representation of the text’s youthful,
passionate impatience.
The Flanagan Collective will be performing a run of this production in London from the 1st-13th of London, details found on here, and here if you'd like to know more about The Flanagan Collective. As ever, all opinions are my own and not even a free party hat could corrupt me although it nearly did.
About the Author
0 comments