FOUR STARS **** 

Having experienced the joys (?) of High School Musical recently at the New Theatre, I was a little apprehensive about sharing the auditorium with large numbers of primary school pupils.  I need not have worried.  The children, on the whole, were better behaved than many adult audiences!

Romeo and Juliet is perhaps not an obvious choice for an adaptation for the pre-teen market.  The themes of love and death are quite dark (and the kissing, inevitably, provokes wolf whistles and ewwwws in equal amounts).  However Shakespeare 4 Kidz have a produced a version of the play which is respectful of the Bard (without being precious) and totally approachable and appropriate for a young audience.  It was clear from the groups around me that they were following the action and enjoying the theatrical experience.

The adaptation into a musical is very much the house style of Shakespeare 4 Kidz - however it is  not going to rival the greatest of musicals - West Side Story.  The music is not fantastic - it serves a purpose but does not really illuminate the text.  I felt that the decision to give Friar Laurence a song (Magic Potion Blues) in his scene with Juliet was a mistake and I could equally well have done without the Ready for the Wedding production number.  At 2 hours and 20 minutes, it is a long performance and would better serve the material to trim 20 minutes from the running time.

The performers clearly have a passion for bringing Shakespeare to new audiences.  Everything is done with commitment and clarity - which really does help the children engage with the action.  Some of the singing is lost - but that is more a fault of the sound design unfortunately.

I did have a wry smile when the opening Chorus speech was delivered via a video projection echoing the opening of Star Wars - I was glad that this didn’t set the style for the production (I am not ready for a space age R&J!)  The use of projection throughout was effective and again used for maximum clarity in the development of the narrative.

To my mind, the most important thing that Shakespeare 4 Kidz does with this production is to get children into the theatre to see Shakespeare.  The Tennant/Hamlet effect will introduce some to the Bard - but it is companies like this who do the real work.  They make it accessible without dumbing down too much and show that Shakespeare is not someone to fear.

If your child gets a chance to see one of their productions, do not hesitate.  It could be the start of a life long passion.

Review by Simon Tavener