WE WERE transported back in time to the great age of amateur dramatics at the Groundlings Theatre last night with a major new production of Romeo and Juliet performed by the Southsea Shakespeare Actors.
Founded in 1947 they are the only theatre company in the UK to have performed every play in the Shakespeare Canon, and the current play certainly doesn’t disappoint.
In Act One Romeo played by Adam Brown,24, delivers his lines with the playful sensitivity of a love-struck young teenager.
As Juliet, Lara Hardwick, 15, acts with a maturity that belies her age and is totally convincing as the young maiden, one minute playing hard to get, the next falling for Romeo’s impassioned wooing.
The kissing scenes are electric and show evidence of a real chemistry between the two actors.
Andy Thomas commands the stage as the bombastic, fearless Mercutio and Danny Carter captivates the audience as Tybalt, leading the Capulets in their rivalry with the Montagues with a nonchalant swagger.
In Act Two, the playacting and jesting is replaced by sombre displays of sorrow and lament, which the cast handle just as adeptly.
Acoustic guitars, piano and violins are used with soft eerie lighting to add atmosphere to the moving tragic scenes.
The venue is also fitting, with renaissance-style vaulted ceilings and arched Georgian windows evoking the faded classicism of the great age of amateur dramatics in the pre and post-war eras..
Romeo and Juliet can be seen at the Groundlings Theatre, The Old Benny, Curzon Howe Road, Portsea, until Sunday 21st November. For tickets call: 02392737370
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