On Thursday 23rd October our Year 13 Theatre Studies group travelled to the Theatre Royal in Brighton to see the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Romeo and Juliet. As part of our course we study a module in Shakespearean theatre and it is essential that we see as many performances as we can – providing lots of fun evenings out! The director of the production, Neil Bartlett, chose to set the text in 1940’s Italy; the atmosphere is immediately ominous, with the men in smart suits and flick-knives in the place of swords. One of the most successful aspects of the production was the Italian street band which performed live on stage and serenaded both the actors and the audience. Their haunting music, played by a collaboration of brass instruments such as saxophones and trumpets, added excitement and gave the play a sense of foreboding. As well as this, the text was brought to life by the delightful comedy of Julie Legrand as the ‘Nurse’ and Gyuri Sarossy as ‘Mercutio’. However, many of the group watching did not feel that they were provided with the tragic love story they came to see. The piece was very much focussed on its concept and at times this allowed the lead roles of Romeo and Juliet to miss opportunities to build their relationship with each other. I do not feel that there was a great deal of emotional attachment to the characters and this meant that at the end of the play the audience were not particularly concerned with their deaths, leaving us somewhat unsatisfied.Despite all this it was definitely a successful evening. Even if not to everyone’s tastes, it gave a valuable insight into the possibilities of manipulation and adaptation within Shakespeare’s plays. We were able to broaden our knowledge of performance and develop individual views as critical theatre-goers. Not to mention the fact that it was great to see each other outside the stresses of rehearsals!by K. Rahman, Year 13, Theatre Studies