Romeo & Juliet - Duke of York's Theatre

Oh god this was bad. And DULL.

A sort of strange phenomenon - a very young and extremely well behaved audience (no phones, no chatter) but audibly bored, fidgeting, yawning - honestly don’t blame them - but then who Pavlov-style got to their feet at the end. Maybe they were enjoying it and I misread the situation but it really didn’t feel that way.

The most interesting bit of the whole evening was the feverish crowd outside the theatre afterwards. The road blocked with people trying to catch a glimpse, both pavements PACKED with people. Then screams when Tom came out of the stage door and waved. People so far back they couldn’t se a thing holding phones in the air taking pictures which surely will just be the backs of people’s heads and a sea of hands holding phones in front of them and possibly a tiny bit of Tom somewhere in the distance. What a weird life he must lead if that follows you everywhere.

But the show. First half, irritating (“Oh for goodness sake just talk to each other instead of whispering into microphones miles apart! What are we learning here?!”) but enough loud noises and flashing lights to keep you from drifting off. Second half interminable (“Just speak faster! When will it end?!”). It’s great that Jamie Lloyd is getting young people excited to go to the theatre and to see Shakespeare, but honestly if I’d seen this production at school, I think I’d have been put off for life!

There's a Under 30/key worker ticket for this in the noticeboard which I'm tempted to get, but I'm 31 and not a key worker - do you think I could get away with it?!

Up to you if you want to take the gamble. I wasn't asked for any ID/evidence and a friend wasn't asked a few days before, but they might do random checks.

I saw this this afternoon and didn't really care much for it. The two leads were great but there was no sense of place or characterisation elsewhere. Almost impossible to make out who was who and the whole thing felt very confusing. Some of the verse speaking was poor (again, not the leads).

Having loved Cyrano and Sunset, I was disappointed that I didn't feel the same about this. I'm a bit done with screens and gimmicks for a while, I think. The theatre was like a sauna and everyone leapt to their feet with wild abandon at the end, possibly because it was finally over, having gone on for what seemed like an eternity, especially in the second half.

Shall we even bother with stage door? Seeing it in a group and one particularly wants to see Tom after but I want to live another day

I saw this on Thursday and must say I rather liked it.

There were quite a few Huns in the audience and a couple sat down next to me, him with two pints, her with a pint and a double shot and ATG had 2 ushers AND security on both Stalls aisles - I really thought I was in for an audience reign of terror. But happy to report the lights went down and it was a beautifully behaved audience without a single disturbance.

So I don't see many plays (much prefer musicals) and I really don't like or "get" Shakespeare in general - but I like Jamie Lloyd and I thought this might make a Shakespeare play more accessible to me.

And it did! Loved the atmosphere as you come into the theatre - very dark with loud industrial mood music playing!

The modern dress and the use of mics and film I really enjoyed. I thought entire cast but particularly both leads were fantastic. And the whole staging created an intense atmosphere of simmering tension which I loved.

Immediate (and deserved) standing ovation from a very appreciative audience.

Easy 4 stars from me.

(Oh and when I came out there was a massive crowd of people behind barriers the other side of the street presumably waiting for stage door. I was one of the first out so clearly none of these people had actually seen the show! I don't see many films so had no idea Tom Holland was that level of megastar!)

I don’t think it could have been more Jamie Lloyd, loads of blood, projections, smoke and gloom, sitting on the edge of the stage, mics off, loud noises and blackouts.

It wasn’t for me, it just dragged, the lack of interaction between the cast, might as well have been a radio play.

The people behind me left during the interval. I wish I'd made the same choice.

Having recently rewatched The Seagull, it’s a mix of styles he loves. Sparse sets, front facing actors with mainly vocal interactions and focused camera work.
I really expect more of the same from future productions, with some minor tweaking, perhaps.

It does mildly amuse me that so many people seem to know what Jamie Lloyd does.
Buy tickets to this.
Moan about it being classical Jamie Lloyd.

But is is interesting. As someone who hardly ever sees plays and really really has never enjoyed Shakespeare, I liked this.
So I do think he reaches new audiences.

I think this is a fair point, but it's kind of hit and miss with JL. Some of his work has been genuinely innovative and exciting, but some is simply derivative of his better work and that makes it boring. So I guess a lot of people (me) go into it hoping it's going to be the former, but moan because it's actually the latter.

I wasn’t moaning about it being his style, just commenting on how much of it it was.
Usually I do like his work and before this the only time I’d actively disliked a Lloyd production was Macbeth with the gas masks. This one it just didn’t work for me.