Romeo and Juliet - Filmed at the National Theatre

 

Filmed on the National Theatre's Lyttleton stage in a pandemic ("a plague on both your houses), the absence of an audience meant the cameras were able to follow the actors close up and personal. This is a Romeo and Juliet as you have never seen before. The editing of the film includes flashbacks and all the gizmos possible for such a presentation. Director Simon Godwin has given us an ultra modern and ingenious production  that runs for a pacy hour and a half, a pared down version from Emily Burns.

I wondered at the beginning if the whole action was going to take place back stage, a rehearsal room full of theatrical paraphernalia. As our Chorus introduces the scene with those well known words, the actors are lined up in their houses opposite each other. Are we still in rehearsal as Romeo and Juliet smile at each other? Whatever the case, that is such a brilliant try out for the picture above. I found it truly awesome. 

However, I did find the first half a little chaotic and rushed. We are soon into a black backdrop for the ball, Awful thumping techno bass says we might be at a rave with masks, but the star crossed lovers are still able to see each other for the first time. I had to turn off the sound. My son would have turned it up. I thought Jessie Buckley's Juliet was disappointing at first, seeming to lose her delivery in that Irish accent. But she was saved, first by her amazing expressions and then by just getting better and better. Her final soliloquy as she contemplates taking the drug is one of the best things I have ever seen.

I have to say I was surprisingly impressed by Josh O'Connor's Romeo. He spoke the verse with such unexpected authority and gave us a very modern Romeo. Tamsin Grieg is frightening as the selfishly fierce bully of a mother to poor Juliet. Deborah Findlay is also very good as the Nurse. 

The second half of the play did seem far better than the first, the drama of the plot shone through. But as well as those cinematic devices, I was also a little disturbed by the later alternating sets which indicated the filming took place over days on the same stage. So ultimately the experimental fusion of theatre and film was chaotic but interesting.  I would love to see that tried again.