Shakespeare in Love

Newcastle Theatre Royal
25th Feb to 2nd March 2019

Also no DOakes, no rockinrobin...

But, on a more serious note, I'd happily see it again.

37 - Shakespeare in Love - Kings (Edinburgh)

Forsooth, verily young wordsmith Shakespeare doest have thee ye olde writers blocke. Luckily for him a well do to young lady has decided she wants to be an actor and is going to pretent to be male to fulfill her aim. Zoiks!


Gadzooks sire I have never seen the film that this is based on, a film which for me does hold a special place in my heart for at least stopping the hideously over rated Saving Private Ryan from winning Best Picture at the Oscars - ONLY THE FIRST 20 MINUTES OF RYAN ARE ANY GOOD, THE REST IS TEDIOUS SENTIMENTAL BILGE.

But back to the play, I should really really hate this - its Shakespeare who I cant stand with his pompous prose, pish jokes and chracterisation that wouldnt look out of place in Hollyoaks combined with a script that thinks its being achingly funny by making every second line a reference to a well know Shakey piece.

Hence we have a tiresome running joke about a dog called Spot seemingly just so that they can reference MacBeth - and that terrible scripting is repeated far too many times as we get lines about seeing daggers etc. Couple this with some fearsomely OTT performances in an effort to highlight the comedic moments, the worst portrayal of curing a stutter that I've ever seen (and which as a stutterer I found to be borderline offensive), an overlong runtime of 2h 35min and a cast of 18 playing far too many multiple parts which means that the second half sees a lot of characters that have been set up in the first half virtually disappear from plot.

And yet there is something here that almost works - the OTT supporting cast actually support the straight "man" lead duo well, the staging is sparse but effective with the designer and director making full use of the revolve (although it did mean that for the first scene with the Queen on stage we couldnt actually see her as the stairs were in the way, although it did mean we got a lovely sight of the flesh coloured undies that Will was wearing in the bed scene) but its simple, effective and as we see a clear hark to the balcony scene in Romeo and Ethel The Pirates Daughter.

The script isnt as funny as it thinks it is and its the non Shakey moments that strike home in the comedic stakes (with people being knocked out, comedic ferrymen, the Verona running gag, the bit with the dog and of course a very visable package and bum getting thrust about in some VERY tight red leather trousers) and the ending involves the dramatic moment of will the Queen make it down the stairs in that dress (not last night, she required the Lord Chamberlain to lift her dress from where it had been caught).

Overall this is crowd pleasing nonsense that is more than the sum of its parts. Anon, anon, anon.

7/10

I really hope they announce some more dates for this tour - after Chichester there's nothing until Newcastle next March. I would love to see it again, hoping it comes a bit closer to home.