Out of all the theatres I knew we were going to visit, Shakespeare’s Globe was the one I was most excited about. Despite being much younger than most of the other theatres, it felt ancient, a recreation of the original that burned down hundreds of years ago. The theatre space itself felt very warm and inviting, whereas the other theatres had everyone in individual chairs, the Globe had benches or standing, and it felt like a much more communal experience.
The theatre was open air, with no roof over most of the house. This meant that the space was lit almost entirely through natural light, meaning no fancy scene transitions. I was very thankful that I was in the seated area, with a roof over me, since the sunlight was pretty intense. Additionally, I am thankful that if it had rained, I would not have been affected, since the shows do not stop for the weather. Sitting down did have some disadvantages though. There were points when it was difficult to hear the actors, especially when they were facing away. This wasn’t helped by the fact that they didn’t stop performing during outside distractions, and multiple helicopters flew over during the course of the play, drowning them out.
These minor grievances didn’t matter though, because of the play itself. We saw Romeo and Juliet. This was not my first time seeing Shakespeare live, this was not my first time seeing Romeo and Juliet live, however, I can confidently say that this was the best performance of Shakespeare I have ever seen. The first reason for this I think is that it was actually funny. Yes, one of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies was hilarious to watch. The actors didn’t portray Shakespeare with a sense of reverence, drawing out every word, they performed Shakespeare as it was meant to be performed. For the first time I was actually able to understand the humor in the story, so many jokes that didn’t register for me as jokes hit me, since the actors were properly delivering them. Additionally, the actors were interacting with the audience, acknowledging them, intermingling with them, which made the whole production more engaging.
There was one major departure from the source material though. It was not set in sixteenth century Italy, but rather, the American wild west. This was evident throughout almost every element of the show. The back wall was made to be reminiscent of a saloon, the characters wore cowboy hats with pistols on their sides, some of the dialogue was slightly altered to acknowledge the new setting, and there was a lot of country-western dancing. However, most of the dialogue was unchanged, and most of the characters spoke with a British accent, which was a little bit jarring at first.
This change in setting did alter how the play felt though, and I think that is mainly due to the use of guns. Instead of dueling with blades, the major fights used pistols, that produced real smoke and gunshot sounds. This made many of the scenes feel more brutal, especially when Romeo would shoot someone multiple times, even when they were on the ground dying. This ended up making him seem like much less of a sympathetic character. When he repeatedly shoots Tybalt, there isn’t a sense of it being an accidental thing in the heat of the moment, it feels like an intentional and bloody action that is uncomfortable to watch. This ends up making Juliet feel even more tragic, as she is giving her life up for a murderer.
-Jack Duncan
Theatre in London U of A 