Monday night I enjoyed the Globe's production of Romeo and Juliet, an early play that I have always enjoyed and one that was as popular as Hamlet in Shakespeare's time. It was an exciting performance in that wonderful Globe theater, the audience so close to the stage that had I been there I would have been a little frightened during that great opening street brawl scene.
Because of the gender swaps in Hamlet, I had wondered if Romeo might be played by a woman, but the pair of star-crossed lovers were reliably played by the young-looking Nigerian actor, Tomiwa Edun, and Juliet by an even younger-looking Ellie Kendric. (In the play, Juliet is not yet fourteen.) The players were well-cast, especially Philip Cumbus as Mercutio, perhaps my favorite character in the play, and he did not disappoint with his Queen Mab speech. There is some great iambic pentameter in this play!
"For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”
National Theater Live offered Twelfth Night this week, which I enjoyed Thursday afternoon on a rainy day that prevented us from working outdoors. Another gender swap had the role of Malvolio played by the very good Tamsin Greig, which made for some interesting dynamics. The play is all about mistaken gender, as Viola, separated from her twin brother, disguises herself as a boy and finds herself falling in love with Orsino the Duke.
The set was an amazing one, taking place on a rotating stage with tall staircases separating different scenes. It was hard to say whether the dress was "modern" or not (see above), but it was certainly interesting, especially Malvolio's famous wearing of yellow stockings and garters, which Tamsin Greig carried off wonderfully.
From the opening lines - "If music be the good of love, play on!" - to the very end, some of the Bard's most famous passages were delivered very well. A good Shakespearean actor can make his dense, difficult language come alive. I had never appreciated Fabian saying toward the end of the play, to the laughter of an appreciative audience:
"If this were played upon a stage now,
I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
All of that iambic pentameter had an effect on me, and I awoke this morning filled with it all as I faced the prospect of another day with post-hole digger and wheelbarrow and more slow, hard work.
"The fence awaits me with its heavy call
Of iron and concrete; pray it does not fall!
Oh heavy fence, that tax my muscles so,
Be thou my friendly project, not my foe."
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