& Juliet

Writer David West Read came up with the idea for & Juliet whilst recovering from a concussion. He was not able to look at screens, so instead he lay in a dark room where he focused on listening to the 250 songs written by Max Martin – the pop composer no-one had heard of, but everyone knew though his hits.

A common thread of the songs Martin wrote for everyone from Britney Spears to Taylor Swift to Kate Perry, and many more, is heartache.  So, Read’s mind wandered to Shakepeare’s tragedy which has bucket loads of love and despair.

& Juliet poses the question, what if Juliet lived, with a contemporary look at female empowerment and gender.

The unlikely mix of Shakespeare and contemporary pop is both silly and scrumptious. Martin has a large enough body of work to allow for close enough segues from the narrative to the music.

The star of the show are the songs, which are performed at high velocity with a giddy array of costumes, set and lights reminiscent of a rock concert. Many are so closely associated with the artists who sing them that you can’t help but shift focus to their original use.

The whole production is beautiful to look at, but I was more entertained and dazzled by the pop concert production values rather than being held in suspense by the story.

The character of Shakespeare (Rob Mills) is not given as much poetry as you might expect from a literary genius and instead is overshadowed by his wife Anne Hathaway (Amy Lehpamer) who reinvents the story of Romeo and Juliet to empower the heroine.

Both were terrific as was whole ensemble, who have been on the road for many months and are in fine form.

Casey Donovan (Angelique), Hayden Tee (Lance), Blake Appelqvist (an unexpected character) all have moments of high camp and milk their lines with aplomb. It felt at times like an adult panto.

Those roles were more fun to perform than the more earnest parts of Juliet (Lorinda May Merrypor and her love interest Francois (Yashith Fernando).

Overall there are a lot more laughs and a lot less passion and drama than Shakespeare’s original which the younger demographic in the audience lapped up.

David Spicer

Photographer: Daniel Boud