To 24 July
My goodness it's good to be back!
After an enforced closure of coming up to 20 months, the Open Air Theatre Regent's Park is staging productions again.
This most wonderful of venues has been thrilling audiences since 1932 and has remained one of London's unique theatrical experiences ever since.
Images : Jane Hobson
For its reopening in 2021 the Open Air Theatre has offered us tragedy on a grand scale in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet directed by Kimberley Sykes.
For never was a story of more woe, Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.
Romeo and Juliet, first premiered in 1597, was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime it remains one of his most frequently performed plays.
While this tale of young Italian star-crossed lovers, whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families, was due to be sandwiched between One Hundred and One Dalmatians (cancelled) and Carousel (31 July to 25 September 2021), it proved a fitting first production of the season.
It enjoys a relatively simple plotline that laden with reflections on society that remain relevant today.
The production opens with a street brawl by feuding gangs and though Romeo and Juliet are on 'opposing sides', their love for each other transcends the hatred.
Of course (spoiler alert) the tale does not end well for the young lovers but there is, nonetheless, a redeeming and moral conclusion to the play.
The staging of this production of Romeo and Juliet was impressively stark, with scaffolding towering above waste ground.
Is this an area of forlorn desolation or of a constructive future?
While, and as expected, the cast of this production were all excellent, Isabel Adomakoh Young shines as Juliet.
It is very much a case of Juliet and her Romeo, (Joel MacCormack), with the young lad as captive to Juliet as he is captivated by her.
Young's performance was the epitome of exuberant and emerging womanhood (she is just 14) with a sassy impulsiveness and innocence.
A warm glow as the evening closed in.
Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say goodnight till it be morrow
In the case of the Open Air Theatre Regent's Park it is truly 'sweet' to be in the morrow.
Information on purchasing tickets can be found on the theatre's website.
See also :
The Open Air Regent's Park is a theatrical must
https://www.allwaystraveller.com/allways-features-home/the-open-air-regent-s-park-is-a-theatrical-must