Greenwich Theatre’s current production of Shakespeare’s much loved play has some interesting and innovative features. Romeo is cast as a woman, apparently as a tribute to the Pride movement, and it makes extensive use of music played and sung by the six performers who are all talented musicians. Whilst I was initially unsure about the same sex leading couple it worked well and appeared natural. The music was very pleasant although somewhat idiosyncratic, including at, one time, one of Simon and Garfunkel’s numbers, the relevance of which to the plot was not clear.
An impressive backdrop had been constructed with a large steel balcony which was used, obviously, for the famous balcony scene but when it was used for dialogue between other characters, for example, in Lord Capulet’s scene with Paris it was too high and the distance between them seemed excessive. The costuming was modern of an indeterminate period, but the characters did not change costumes for the entire duration of the play, for example, Lady Capulet wore her ball gown throughout.
The play is performed with only six actors which meant a lot of doubling and not all the actors were able to sufficiently distinguish the characters, although the costume changes did help. It meant a lot of darting on and off stage to change which, plus the need for some or all of the cast having to also play music, broke up the continuity and meant that for most scenes there were only 2 or 3 actors on stage which on the Greenwich stage meant a lot of unused space. This was particularly noticeable in the ball scene when the ball room itself was almost empty.
The main problem with this production, however, is the delivery of the text by the cast. They almost all rushed their delivery which made it snappy but reduced audibility, and I doubt if anyone not familiar with the plot would have been able to follow it. Also, this play contains some of Shakespeare’s most poetic language but the in their haste the cast failed to bring it out. The exception was Matt Penson in the roles of Benvolio and Lord Capulet who did have a more modulated delivery and did greater justice to the text.
Warning: the Greenwich Theatre does not seem to have an effective air-conditioning system and on Press Night the auditorium was uncomfortably hot.
Romeo and Juliet is on the Greenwich Theatre until 25th July 2026. Tickets are available at www.greenwichtheatre.org.uk
Reviewer: Paul Ackroyd
Reviewed: 7th July 2026
North West End UK Rating: