Shakespeare made accessible

By afoster

Romeo and Juliet The Musical

Queen's Theatre, Barnstaple

Review by Andrea Foster

IT'S Shakespeare, Jim, but not as we know it.

And, on behalf of youngsters everywhere, I heartily applaud S4K (the Shakespeare 4 Kidz Theatre Company) for bringing the bard's tales to the attention of a younger audience with so much energy and humour.

Hopefully, by the time they start to study his works properly they will remember the rollicking rendition of S4K's Romeo and Juliet at the Queen's Theatre which brought the tale alive as never before.

Who can forget Noel Andrew Harron's portrayal of Mercutio as an in-your-face, party loving hellraiser whose last words were even laced with humour?

Or Debbie Leigh Simmon as Juliet's wonderfully bright and bouncy nurse?

It was easy to tell the two warring families apart — one side wearing brightly coloured 'Hawaiian' shirts the other black leather.

Together they took the audience — many of them primary school children— on an hilarious roller coaster ride with plenty of humour and hip swinging rock and roll along the way.

But that's not to say they trampled roughshod over the tragic scenes which were very tender and moving.

Moreover, the contemporary version of the tale was peppered throughout with Shakespeare's own poetic phrase so that even the famous balcony scene was true to the original.

Having witnessed the enthusiastic response of the audience, I am sure they made new fans out of every youngster there.