"Considering the weather, a taller man than I will take cold," pretty much sums up the start of the 2012 Bard in the Botanics season for artistic director Gordon Barr.
Beset by one of the wettest weeks June has seen, finally a performance of Romeo and Juliet went ahead in the park, albeit undercover.
It's funny how a re-staging can add a heightened vibrancy and sense of adventure, as this is what the five-strong cast managed to achieve. The Brave New World theme of this year's selected Shakespeare plays has come into its own, although it's a level of stress the young performers – and beleaguered crew – could probably have lived without.
Each making their Botanics debut, James Rottger and Stephanie McGregor brought a gritty newness to their titular roles. Rottger's churlish immaturity in the opening scenes morphed into tragic vulnerability, and his high-pitched moments and pretty, petted lip never made him petulant or pathetic. This likeability was shared with McGregor, more feisty and robust than your typical child bride heroine.
The thought-provoking dual-casting of Robert Elkin (Benvolio/Friar), Daniel Campbell (Tybalt/Nurse) and Luke McConnell (Mercutio/Capulet) was made clear through mannerisms and costume detail effectively, while the masculation of Lady Capulet made the words all the more loaded and threatening.
Music such as Fun (We Are Young) and Lana Del Rey (Born To Die – naturally) also gave the more Baz Luhrmann elements of Barr's pacey direction of raucous homo-eroticism and Champagne Charlie antics a violently youthful relevance for a new generation of 16-year-olds. See it outside or inside, but just see it.
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