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Romeo and Juliet
York Evening Post:
Love Story Charms the Picnic and Pimms Set
Sprite Productions take a flying leap forward with a Romeo And Juliet that has the heart pounding with its originality and audacity.
Last year, company founders Hester Evans and Liam Evans-Ford made the pragmatic choice of A Midsummer Night's Dream for their opening Shakespeare salvo, but romantic tragedy is not such an obvious accompaniment to the picnic and Pimms. Nevertheless, advance ticket sales have topped 2,500.
Trapped in the claustrophobia of feuding dynasties and the breathless heat of Verona's compact city square, the hot- housed, boundary-breaking romance of Romeo And Juliet would not outwardly suit a promenade performance amid the manicured lawns and woodland of Ripley Castle on a Yorkshire summer night. Yet Lucy Kerbel's direction makes superb use of the location, each setting always complementing the text.
Derek Hagen's loose-cannon Mercutio makes his entrance by jumping off a wall; Romeo (Ashley Roife) and Juliet (Sarah Bedi) conduct their balcony scene atop a walled garden; and the Friar (bare-footed Jamie Bower) cultivates his remedies in the orangery. A tomb specially con- structed in the woods for the final death scene is so authentic you would swear it had been at Ripley as long as the Ingilby family.
As befits a director with Royal Court and National Theatre credentials, Kerbel constantly delights with her details, never more so than when Romeo gently pulls Juliet away from a ring of dancers. They stand for maybe a minute, smiling, giggling and not knowing what to say as the first flush of love overtakes them. The chemistry is instant, swept along by Geoffrey R. Hense's omnipresent violin.
Juliet may be forced to be old above her years, yet Sarah Bedi allows the schoolgirl to show through at all times, unlike so many latter day interpretations.
Ashley Rolfe's Romeo is cast against the groove too, not as a balletic, pretty and poetic figure, but as a once fickle young man stirred beyond his control by passion. Nicky Goldie's kindly, flustered Nurse and Martin Belville's short-fused Capulet maintain the high velocity; swordfights are scarily vicious, and Hayley Nebauer's costumes reflect character as much as Elizabethan times. Mercutio's pink lining to match his outlandish wit and demeanour will linger in the memory.
Charles Hutchinson
Northern Echo
Last year's debut by Sprite Productions gave us A Midsummer Night's Dream, an obvious choice for open-air Shakespeare but a magical one all the same.
Romeo and Juliet is a much bolder option.
A production can't just coast along knowing that the outdoor setting - and the grounds of Ripley Castle provide stunning backdrops - will cover any deficiencies in the show as this tale of star-crossed lovers makes real dramatic demands on its actors.
In this promenade production, director Lucy Kerbel moves her actors, along with the chair and rug-carrying audience, to various locations, including a walled garden for the balcony scene.
Hayley Nebauer's quirky costumes have an originality that reflects the often-unexpected tone of the staging. This extends to the casting of Romeo, not a conventional pretty boy lover in Ashley Rolfe but an intense, passionate young man swept off his feet by Sarah Bedi's Juliet.
Unlike too many aged Juliets, she actually looks as though she might still be at school.
Most importantly, the pair have a chemistry that makes their young love all the more believable.
Nicky Goldie's excitable Nurse and Jamie Bower's barefoot Friar Lawrence provide the voice of adult reason, while Derek Hagen's impetuous Mercutio heads the brawling and swordplay that leads to tragedy.
Romeo and Juliet proves that Sprite Productions is not a one-hit wonder.
I look forward to their Much Ado About Nothing next summer.
Steve Pratt
York Post
The setting, in Ripley Castle's walled garden, with the audience following the actors to various locations, brought a reality to this superb performance of Romeo & Juliet that would not be possible within the confines of a stage.
From the duelling factions dashing on to the scene from all directions, to those hesitating moments when the young lovers first cast eyes on one another, this was a perfectly paced and colourful production from Lucy Kerbel.
The cast has been well chosen, with each actor having the appropriate age and appearance, Ashley Rolfe's handsome, deep eyed Romeo was matched by the slim, pretty and youthful Sarah Bedi as Juliet.
Even in such large expanses, the diction was immaculate throughout. Passages were fired off at speed without compromising clarity. Martin Belville's rage with his daughter, Juliet, in the third act so potent it was in danger of boiling over.
Central to the action, Jamie bower was an unusually compassionate Friar Laurence, acting as a foil to the hot-headed youngsters around him, an approach shared by Joanna Croll's elegant Lady Capulet.
The fight scenes had such frightening animation that you feared for the safety of the actors. George Williams was an uncompromising and arrogant Tybalt, with Derek Hagen and Rhys Matthews suitably cavalier as Romeo's two friends.
Such polished performances bode well for Sprite Productions' version of Much Ado About Nothing in the castle next summer.
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Photos from our 2005 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream
Not just a show - an event!
Bring your colleagues, family, and friends. Bring a picnic, chairs, rugs (warm clothing) and relax in the Castle’s beautiful gardens and grounds...
This beautiful Yorkshire Castle, home of the Ingilby family, has played a
significant part in English history since 1320. It tells a story of how
they have survived wars, political and civil unrest, plague, pestilence,
and religious persecution...
Designed by Capability Brown, home to the National Hyacinth Collection, experience the magic of the lake, woods, waterfall and fallow deer grazing under ancient oaks...
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