Lovers laid bare

Nov 7 2008 by Michael Green, Chester Chronicle

This isn’t just Romeo and Juliet – this is the RSC Romeo and Juliet!

Familiarity is in danger of breeding contempt for what is one of Shakespeare’s most frequently performed masterpieces.

But while everyone may know the story – and how it ends – there is a reason why it remains so enduringly popular.

The sheer power of the poetry employed by the Bard to tell the tale of his star crossed lovers is undiminished and every syllable of it will have maximum impact in the hands of the Royal Shakespeare Company when they return to The Lowry at Salford Quays next week.

David Dawson, who comes from Widnes and trained at RADA, will now perform alongside Anneika Rose. Both actors are making their RSC debut in the title roles.

Anneika Rose, who trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, now joins David and the company in rehearsals. Laura Rees, who was scheduled to play the part of Juliet has had to withdraw from the show due to illness.

David Dawson recently played Smike in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (Gielgud Theatre, London; Chichester and international tour), for which he received a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best Newcomer in a Play.

Other theatre credits include The Entertainer and Richard II (Old Vic). TV appearances include The Thick Of It and Essex Girls (BBC), Doc Martin and Up Close and Personal (ITV).

Featuring a company of 23 actors and a seven-piece live band on stage, this boldly theatrical new staging of Shakespeare’s fast-moving story of two teenagers torn apart by their families’ vendetta, reunites award-winning director Neil Bartlett and designer Kandis Cook, the creative team behind the 2007 sell-out Stratford-upon-Avon production of Twelfth Night.

Neil Bartlett said: “I’m very excited to be going back to the RSC – and to be working with a company of 30 performers. I’m going to tell Shakespeare’s story on a bare stage, but with costumes from the Italy of the 1940s and 50s – think of early Fellini and Visconti movies.

“For the story to catch fire, the company has to be able to move as fast as the emotions of the lovers do, and the world of the play has to be harsh, Catholic, sexy, violent – so the beautiful, hot-blooded poetry is going to be punctuated by the flash of knives, and the sound of an Italian street band, playing live on stage with the actors.

“Our tour takes us to some really fine theatres, and I’m especially excited by the fact that this particular play always draws a crowd – both of young people who’ve never seen a Shakespeare play before, and of people who know and love it as one of the best stories ever written about how the world can conspire to destroy all that is brightest and most beautiful.”

Neil Bartlett, the director of Romeo and Juliet, was artistic director of the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre between 1994–2004, where he directed 37 productions, including Kleist’s The Prince of Homberg and Marivaux’s The Dispute – both co-productions with the RSC.

Romeo and Juliet can be seen at The Lowry from November 11-15. For booking information, ring the box office on 0870 787 5793 or visit www.thelowry.com