United Kingdom & Juliet: Cliffs Pavilion, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, 5.5.2025. (JPr)
After the current disappointment of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (assessment right here) when the corporate appeared to have misplaced half of their present enroute to Southend; the West Finish got here in full drive to the Cliffs Pavilion as & Juliet proves simply the escape you would possibly want from all the actual world’s miserable headlines. ‘All of the world’s a stage, and all of the women and men merely gamers’ is the flawed Shakespeare play however these ‘gamers’ delivered to the ‘let’s placed on a present’ backstage shenanigans of this poptastic & Juliet loads of enjoyable and frolics while addressing some very topical points, notably gender politics. Doesn’t a few of this appear moderately acquainted and certainly we’ve got been there earlier than and & Juliet is solely Kiss Me, Kate (assessment right here) for the twenty-first century!
I’m no Shakespeare and don’t have the phrases to do & Juliet full justice; the alternate we hear between the Bard and his spouse Anne Hathaway – about his new play about Romeo and Juliet she doesn’t take care of – is extra like me: Shakespeare ‘I’m sorry, however the ending hath been writ’, Anne ‘I perceive, however expensive, the ending’s sh*t’. Anne suggests her different ending for his ‘pair of star-crossed lovers’ one which has Juliet forging a brand new life for herself and embracing a brand new future. The Shakespeares bicker consistently with Anne bemoaning her lot as an deserted spouse – in a house exterior Stratford-upon-Avon – taking care of their three youngsters (although one dies younger at 11) and sometimes berating him how she will get left his ‘second-best mattress’ in his will. You received’t have the ability to reply many GCSE English Literature questions on Romeo and Juliet however you can be stunned how a lot you’ll be taught concerning the state of Shakespeare’s marriage to Anne. Shakespeare needs to stay together with his unique plotting however after a lot persuasion proffers his quill to Anne and lets her ring her modifications and shake issues up fairly a bit. In the long run after Romeo returns from the lifeless (!) Juliet is ready to resolve on her future for herself and others are in a position to love whomever they need to.
One of many signature songs of Kiss Me, Kate is ‘Brush Up Your Shakespeare’ which is chockfull of references to Shakespeare and his performs. In & Juliet these are liberally unfold all through this 2019 award-winning present that could be a collaboration between the music of ‘Max Martin and Buddies’ and playwright and Emmy-winning tv author David West Learn. I recognised a couple of of Martin’s ‘dozens and dozens of hits’ (in response to the programme essay) ‘for artists as totally different as Celine Dion, Bon Jovi, The Weekend and Britney Spears’ however not sufficient to make & Juliet merely a jukebox musical in its easiest sense. Although there may be an precise jukebox on the stage a number of the time!
The songs are artfully positioned all through the (principally) all-singing, all-dancing concert-style extravaganza. As an example, close to the start when Anne means that Juliet mustn’t kill herself however reside on, Shakespeare sings ‘I Need It That Approach’ (Backstreet Boys); later within the first half when Juliet appears to race headlong into a brand new relationship, we get Britney Spears’s ‘Oops!… I Did It Once more’; when Juliet rekindles her romance with Romeo, Anne thinks about life with Shakespeare and sings the Celine Dion anthem ‘That’s The Approach It Is’; and as Juliet completes her journey of self-discovery and grasps her future, she sings Katy Perry’s ‘Roar’.
The songs are performed, principally in full, by a reside band of 6 who actually rock. The enthusiastic, hard-working ensemble (listed because the ‘Firm of Gamers’) is awfully proficient. A lot of them wander onto the stage and greet the viewers as some are nonetheless settling of their seats, bust out some dance strikes, wave at folks they seem to recognise, maintain up playing cards to remind us to show our telephones off and seemingly have a good time earlier than the ‘present inside a present’ begins. It places everybody within the theatre at their ease, and we already know we’re in for a not-at-all severe, enjoyable night.
Jennifer Weber’s trendy, high-octane choreography fuses the ‘hip-hop and musical theatre dance kinds’ that are very acquainted from any enviornment present and the routines of your favorite lady or boy band or pop diva and their dancers. With hints of the traditional (nicely, Elizabethan!) and trendy, set designer Soutra Gilmour and costume designer Paloma Younger have created a setting for & Juliet that’s imaginatively and visually gorgeous. Gilmour’s minimalistic, but versatile stage furnishings is seamlessly allied to Andrzej Goulding’s vibrant, ever-changing video projection and Howard Hudson’s atmospheric lighting and is all we have to immerse ourselves within the ongoing story of & Juliet which strikes from Verona to Paris. That journey is through a rickshaw ‘pulled’ by a carousel horse (really, a tricycle)!
All the forged are superb singers, dancers and comedian actors. There may be nice chemistry between Matt Cardle’s cussed, egotistical Shakespeare who’s keenly conscious he’s solely pretty much as good as his final play and Gerardine Sacdalan’s fast witted and strong-willed Anne. The 2 are an absolute hoot of their confrontation or when popping up throughout Juliet’s story in quite a lot of guises. Juliet’s nurse now turns into Sandra Marvin’s worldly-wise, wise-cracking, sassy Angelique. The convoluted plot finds Juliet and Angelique at a lavish Renaissance Ball in Paris the place the rich Lance Du Bois (a charismatic Lee Latchford-Evans with ‘Allo ‘Allo! French accent) intends to discover a spouse for his a lot put-upon son François (the interesting Kyle Cox) who you’ll find yourself rooting for. François quickly realises Juliet isn’t for him and finds his blissful ever after with Juliet’s gender fluid, greatest pal Could (charmingly portrayed by Jordan Broatch). François and Could get to sing Katy Perry’s ‘I Kissed a Woman’. At one level Anne inserts herself into the story as Juliet’s second greatest pal April and so brings collectively ‘April, Could and Juliet’! In the meantime Lance and Angelique give into their emotions for one another from earlier than when she was his youngsters’s nurse.
What about Romeo (Benjamin Jackson Walker) you’d be proper to ask. Properly, when he seems he’s clearly not the brightest spark, one thing of a cocksure womaniser and distant ancestor of Grease’s Danny Zuko. How does all of it finish for Romeo and Juliet, nicely, you’ll want to see & Juliet to search out out. And I like to recommend you try this whilst you nonetheless can.
Jim Pritchard
For details about the remaining & Juliet tour dates click on right here.
Forged:
Juliet – Gerardine Sacdalan
Shakespeare – Matt Cardle
Lance – Lee Latchford-Evans
Anne Hathaway – Lara Denning
Angélique – Sandra Marvin
Could – Jordan Broatch
François – Kyle Cox
Romeo – Benjamin Jackson Walker
Additionally within the forged: Harriet Caplan-Dean, Alexander Kranz, Andilé Mabhena, Liam Morris, Psalms-Nissi Myers-Reid, Michael Nelson, Toni Paise, Katie Ramshaw, Aaron Shales, Rosie Singha, Samuel Wilson-Freeman and Joe Wolstenholme
Inventive:
E book – David West Learn
Music – Max Martin and Buddies
Director – Luke Sheppard
Set design – Soutra Gilmore
Costume design – Paloma Younger
Lighting design – Howard Hudson
Sound design – Gareth Owen
Video design and Animator – Andrzej Goulding
Musical supervisor, Orchestrations and Preparations – Invoice Sherman
Musical director – Marcus Carter Adama
Choreographer – Jennifer Weber
