DEBORAH CROMBIE: Whenever I have a trip to London, I'm always asked what shows I'm seeing while here. And I usually have to sheepishly reply, um, none. And I have to even more sheepishly admit that I've never been much of a theater person. I didn't grow up in a household that attended live performances, ever, that I can remember. My parents didn't even watch old musicals on TV!
As an adult, for years I had season subscriptions to the opera and the symphony, but I didn't manage theater productions, except for a few summer musicals and Shakespeare in the Park.
I can probably count the number of West End shows I've seen on the fingers of one hand. (Ouch!) My excuse is usually that I'm doing research for my novels and plays are not something that really figure in my characters' lives. But that's no longer strictly true. There is Toby's ballet, for one thing. (The last London show I saw before this week was Billy Elliott, just before it closed its long London run.) And I now have a couple of secondary characters with theater connections, so I can call it research!
Not that I need any excuse, because good drama is always exhilarating and inspiring and sets the writing brain off like fireworks.
Which brings me to Wednesday's matinee performance of ROMEO AND JULIET at the Almeida Theatre in Islington, directed by Rebecca Frecknall, who is the very hot thing in London theatre these days, and starring Isis Hainsworth as Juliet and Toheeb Jimoh as Romeo. TED LASSO fans know him as Sam Obisanya, the Nigerian footballer, but Jimoh is classicly trained and he was terrific.
I had never seen R&J live, only the films.
This production was just over two hours with no intermission.The theatre is small and feels very intimate, perfect for this pared down version of the play that was fast and funny, raw and violent, and so REAL. How did Shakespeare, in his time, write something that could absolutely be today?
I'm still buzzy, and I will be making sure there's more theatre in my future.
REDS and readers, do you love theatre? And what's your favorite LIVE Shakespeare production?
PS: For you TED LASSO fans, Toheeb was not only brilliant, he was so NICE, greeting fans afterwards in the lobby, signing autographs and posing for pics. I shook his hand but was too shy to ask for a photo, and now I really regret it!
