Romeo & Juliet

Romeo and Juliet Edun Kendrick Opus Arte 1029D
Dromgoole's Romeo and Juliet is a highly entertaining production. The director makes great use of the large, visually attractive Globe Theatre stage with minimal use of props. Entrances and exits are seamless with subtle hints showing changes of venue (a glimpse of monks through windows at rear of stage indicates cloisters, and characters descending from above, the Capulet tomb).
The young lovers quickly captivate. The Romeo of Adetomiwa Edun is athletic and energetic, believable as a young man smitten instantly, discovering the difference between doting and truly loving. Ellie Kendrick's Juliet is a refreshingly innocent young girl whose moods change in an instant. Her interpretation of the "What's in a name..." speech is an unusual one, emphasizing the "in." She delivers her lines with feeling and an almost childlike quality, although occasionally I found her rapid somewhat breathy speech a little difficult to follow.
Other notable performances were Tom Stuart as Paris,...

A JIG OR A TALE OF BAWDRY
Lenni Bogat [see his review] nailed it with this one: one of the worst productions of Shakespeare I've ever seen, and by far the worst from England. I lasted one hour before I walked out (I saw it at a cinema); I just couldn't bear to see old Capulet or Montague perform the, for this production, obligatory pelvic thrusts that the director insists on, in lieu of anything more original or expressive. Romeo races through his lines when he isn't mumbling; this production needs subtitles in a bad way.

But the kiss of death for this film is the absolute lack of any chemistry between R&J--none whatsoever. This is a bad amateur production: when I think of all the excellent performances of Shakespeare that are never recorded, what a pity to have spent money preserving this one.

A plague on both their houses!
I love Shakespeare. The prospect of a new series of his plays being made available on DVD is cause for celebration. Moreover, a live performance at Shakespeare's own Globe Theatre in London promised truly authentic artistic delights. A quiet Sunday morning to be devoted to this Romeo and Juliet was planned weeks in advance.

Alas, within moments of pressing play on my remote, I realized that I was being doubly assaulted by a theatrical director who does not understand that Shakespeare is about the words, and a film director whose youthful ambition to be in a position to shout, "Camera one, camera three, camera two," in rapid succession was finally realized.

I made it all the way through Scene I of Act 3, and gave up.

Aside from the fact that this DVD release contains Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, it offers nothing to commend itself. It is over-acted and over-gestured to the point of amateurishness. The camera, unable to sit still for the...

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