Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre has launched its 2025 summer season with a new production of Romeo and Juliet. Directed by the Company’s Associate Artistic Director Sean Holmes, this is another in a long line of modern interpretations of the classic tale of doomed young lovers. Here we find ourselves in the Wild West where the walls of the saloon bar are smudged with blood, and cowboy boots, gun holsters and Stetsons are the order of the day. This is a frontier town where any air of civility – here embodied by a stately Léa des Garets as Lady Capulet – soon gives way to rivalries and lawlessness.
Countless productions have reimagined this tale, perhaps none so effectively as Jerome Robbins’ West Side Story. That worked so well because we cared deeply about the young lovers, but here Holmes’ interpretation makes that more difficult. Lola Shalam is a feisty, outspoken Juliet, striding the stage in her cowboy boots, not the dreamy 13-year-old we often see. Rawaed Asde’s Romeo has a cheeky charm and a confident swagger. but little emotional depth. They seem an ill-matched couple and it’s hard to share their tragedy when they seem like friends, more than star-crossed lovers.
Curiously, this production seems to be played entirely for laughs, with comic asides to the audience and over-played characters. Juliet’s nurse and confidante, here played with real chutzpah by Jamie-Rose Monk, is a great comic character rather than the world-weary voice of caution. Joe Reynolds is a smooth and charming Paris, and Colm Gormley is engaging and entertaining, as Lord Capulet, even as he waves a gun at his own daughter. Michael Elcock is passionate and shining as “the scurvy knave” Mercutio. John Lightbody gives a little gravitas to Friar Lawrence whose line, “Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast,” encapsulates the strengths and weaknesses of this production. There is too much frenetic activity for no real purpose and too little attention to the inner emotionality of the text.
Any Shakespeare play is, of course, all about the words. The enunciation here is often unclear and many speeches are lost to the vagaries of the outdoor setting and its unpredictable acoustics. And there’s an inevitable aural dissonance between traditional Shakespearean dialogue, relocated to an 1880s American setting, and delivered with strong London accents.
There are some wonderful moments and one or two surprises. Juliet’s balcony, and later bed, is wheeled into the space, pushing its way between the standing patrons to reach the stage. This is a great device by designer Paul Wills, as it focuses our attention and gives each scene a stage of its own. The Wild West setting is enhanced by the blue grass-country music played from the gallery above the stage. There’s a big cheer for the band when the balcony doors are thrown open to reveal the players.
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The reimaginings of Romeo and Juliet are endless as every production seeks to stamp its individuality on one of literature’s best-known works, from Verona to Mexico, jazz age to hip-hop, and everything in between. Ultimately, the emphasis on comedy undermines this production. The tragic Romeo and Juliet climax, that we all know so well and patiently await, is thus too little too late. The audience may be moved by the sad fate of the young lovers, but probably not to tears.
Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare
Globe Theatre, London
Director: Sean Holmes
Associate Director: Phillippe Cato
Casting Director: Becky Paris CDG
Composer: Grant Olding
Musical Director: Charlie Laffer
Design: Paul Wills
Intimacy Director: Bethan Clark
Fight Director: Maisie Carter
Movement Director: Tamsin Hurtado-Clarke
Text Consultant: Simon Trinder
Voice Coach: Liz Flint
Cast: Rawaed Asde, Roman Asde, Lola Shalam, Marcus Adolphy, Calum Callaghan, Michael Elcock, Léa des Garets, Josh Gordon, Colm Gormley, Niamh James, John Lightbody, David Olaniregun, Joe Reynolds, Jamie-Rose Monk, Dharmesh Patel
Musicians: Israel Akindipe, Polly Bolton, Richie Hart, Charlie Laffer, Saleem Raman
Romeo and Juliet will be performed until 2 August 2025.
