THAT “+” in the title means business. Sally Cookson’s stripped-down, gender-rejigged, industrial-look modern-dress production is determinedly aiming for a more edgy, youthful audience, but so much is thrown at it that it appears too try-hard for its own good.
There’s twitchy neon lighting, much intrusive “mood” music, hell even Juliet’s age is tweaked from near-14 to a more consent-friendly near-16. It’s as if no one associated with this project had much faith in a bloke called Shakespeare to get things right in the first place.
Before I carry on grumbling, I should stress that things perk up significantly in the second half, when the tragic momentum gathers pace and Audrey Brisson, a wonderfully small and vulnerable Juliet, makes us empathise with the sheer loneliness of her plight once marriage to Paris has been suggested. Until this point, though, there’s some dubious verse speaking to get through and a “comedy” Spanish servant straight out of Fawlty Towers, as well as a bewildering lack of suggestion of the “civil strife” that tears Verona apart.
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Maureen Beattie plays both Capulets rolled into one with some authority, but Laura Elphinstone struggles horribly with the always tricky role of Mercutio; the Queen Mab speech is a dream-turned-nightmare. Joseph Drake’s drippy Romeo might appeal to the Twilight generation, but he hardly seems worth dying for.
Until March 21 (020 8174 0090, rosetheatrekingston.org)
