The amount of Shakespeare productions that are performed each year is staggering.
Why is it we keep coming back to the words of a glove-maker from Stratford-upon-Avon?
This question was at the forefront of my mind as I started adapting Romeo & Juliet.
I think one reason we keep coming back is Shakespeare’s ability to put indescribable feelings into some of the most poetic and beautiful words in the English language.
His writings on the human condition remain timelessly relevant.
This universality also allows productions to bring new context and meanings to the stories.
Henry V was a different play to perform during the Second World War compared to the 1990s, compared to the 2020s - the shows hone in on different elements, and very different messages are brought forward.
An audience’s familiarity with the stories and characters also make them attractive, as it offers the opportunity to put on secure crowd-pleasers, or opens the door to surprise an audience where they least expect it.
That has been a real focus with this adaptation of Romeo & Juliet.
Many people would have studied it at school, and almost everyone knows the basic story beats at least.
I had a teacher at drama school who posited that it is imperative that anyone putting on Romeo & Juliet convince the audience that this time… they will live!
So how does one go about making something so well-known suspense filled and fresh?
In our case, we’ve decided to branch and spin the stories of the play out.
Taking lines from all across Shakespeare’s library, new moments, new dynamics, and sometimes completely new scenes have been meticulously constructed and woven into the play.
Alongside this, original lines have been reassigned and moved around, and whole characters have even been swapped out.
It’s all still Shakespeare’s words, but in a context you have never seen before.
None of this has been done to ‘improve’ the text, or ‘one up’ Shakespeare, but out of a deep respect and love for his work.
We have had so many seminal Romeo & Juliet’s throughout the years, and many of them dutifully faithful to the original play script, which affords us the freedom to try something new, and almost treat the play as a new piece of writing.
- You can see Romeo & Juliet at the Redbridge Drama Centre from May 15- 17. Tickets are available at: visionrcl.org.uk/events/romeo-and-juliet
- Luke Martin is a actor and writer.
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