10 Reasons to See Romeo and Juliet at the Harold Pinter Theatre
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It stars **Sadie Sink**, best known from Netflix's *Stranger Things*, but an actor with stage clout. **Sink** was Tony Award nominated for her role on Broadway in *John Proctor is the Villain*. Romeo is played by **Noah Jupe**, who you will recognise as Danny (Richard Onslow Roper’s son) in both seasons of *The Night Manager* and who plays *Hamlet* in the final scenes of the movie *Hamnet*. So, Shakespeare won’t come as an unwelcome surprise to him, as it sometimes does when actors are making the leap from screen to stage.
It’s the second time that *Romeo and Juliet* has been seen in the West End in the space of two years, suggesting that Shakespeare is making a bit of a comeback in the commercial sector. **Jamie Lloyd**’s staging in 2024 with Marvel star **Tom Holland** as Romeo and **Francesca Amewudah-Rivers** may have sold out within hours of being announced, but its monochrome approach was admired rather than really loved. This revival could be the one to make you fall in love with the lovers.
Which is kind of crucial because two fine individual actors do not a great *Romeo and Juliet* make. What matters is the chemistry between them too. A great *Romeo and Juliet* is marked not just by brilliant storytelling and clarity, but also by its ability to make the audience really root for the protagonists and fall a little bit in love with both of them. It’s got to be sexually charged and dangerous because otherwise, as millions of young people forced to study it at school have discovered, it can be a wee bit dull. But dull is unlikely to be a problem here.
Why? Because it is directed by **Robert Icke**, who recently directed *Player Kings* with **Sir Ian McKellen** in the West End and also directed **Andrew Scott** in *Hamlet*. Unlike some British directors, Icke genuinely seems to love Shakespeare, and because he loves it, he makes audiences love it too.
For **Icke** the job of the director is one of transmission, finding ways to engage an audience.
“It’s what interests me because it is such a difficult thing to do. But it is not how British theatre thinks at the moment. British theatre talks a lot about artists and a lot about institutions but very little about exciting the audience and wanting everyone to lean forward in their seats.”
The rest of the cast is intriguing too, with the wonderful **Clare Perkins** playing the Nurse and rising star **Kasper Hilton-Hille** (so good in *That Face* at The Orange Tree) as Mercutio and also Friar John.
This *Romeo and Juliet* marks the 15th collaboration between **Icke** and designer **Hildegard Bechtler**, one of the great partnerships of contemporary theatre. They spur each other on. Such partnerships are crucial to success. What would *An Inspector Calls* have been without **Ian MacNeil**l’s collapsing design? In the case of **Bechtler** and **Icke**, the partnership creates a distinctive aesthetic full of clean lines, airy spaces and also confinement.
Do not go expecting a balcony scene. Let’s hear it from **Icke**: “In many cases audiences are offered re-treads of performance history rather than a genuine engagement with the play: food eaten with the plastic wrapper still on. We confuse the two all the time in the UK – often because the performance history (often Victorian) is more famous than the play. There’s no balcony in Romeo and Juliet, and the word is never said in the ‘balcony scene’.”
Neither will it be in period dress. **Icke** has strong views about period dress productions of Shakespeare. Not complimentary ones.
**Icke** has already had a crack at *Romeo and Juliet*. Back in 2012 it was his breakout show when he directed a revival for Headlong, at that time a company guaranteed to alight on the most talented directors. It remains the best *Romeo and Juliet* I’ve ever seen: fast, frisky, fluid and startlingly fresh. So, it will be fascinating to see Icke’s approach more than a decade on.
Playing at the[ Harold Pinter Theatre](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/venue/harold-pinter-theatre-london) from Mon 16 March to Sat 6 June, book your [Romeo and Juliet](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/play/romeo-and-juliet-london-tickets) tickets today.