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Youth Theatre Reviews |
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Romeo and JulietBy William Shakespeare Forthwall Theatre Company is made up of the final year students on the BTEC National Diploma in Performing Arts at York College. Now comfortably established in their new site and building and using the purpose built Alan Ayckbourn Theatre the budding dramatists present the famous tale of impetuous young love and tragedy. Director Tony Ravenhall sets the production in the 18th century with a tinkling water fountain in the centre flanked by two benches. In front of the balconied Capulet's house the central action plays out with green and red sashes to mark out the two opposing sides of feuding families. A soulful Romeo (Sam Coulson) finds new love in the sweet and timid Juliet (Jenna Bramley) while around them heated blood fosters new grudges and death follows. The elegant 'Prince of Cats' (Tybalt, Antony Cole) draws the strutting Mercutio (Toby Gordon) into a fight and a newly wed Romeo intervenes only to get his best friend killed. When Tybult returns to the stage Romeo murders him brutally by suffocating him, and in a fantastically staged death we see Tybult's struggling body finally expire at our very feet - leaving the audience shocked as the interval begins. Inevitably Ravenhall is faced with having more female actors in his company than males and he solves this with making Lord Montague into Dowager Montague (Tiffany Devine), Friar John into Sister Joan (Charlotte Whittaker), the Prince into Duchess Escalus (Hayley Milner), Peter into Pia (Hayley Stenson) and many other servants into female roles. The students deal confidently with the text and produce a good, watchable production. Capulet is somewhat enthusiastically played by Oliver Tatersfield, and followed by an imposing Natasha Jones as Lady Capulet. The Nurse is double-cast with Emma Jackson and Illaria Passeri taking the roles at alternate times. In this case it was Emma Jackson playing a nicely comic nurse gasping for air from the window before she tells her Juliet of Romeo's marriage proposal. Whilst the setting nicely frames the action it includes a somewhat incongruous sparkly curtain under balcony to hide Juliet's bed. Apart from that the design gives the actors an inventive, multileveled stage to fight, dance, repent and of course, fall in love around. With wigs, dresses, knee high boots, full sleeved shirts and swaggering cummerbunds these aspiring students pull off a challenging play with great potential. Lets hope they all go off to show off their talents in many other places too.
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