Cast: Kayla-Maree Tarantolo, Ishan Mahabir-Stokes Review by Carol Allen
The story of Shakespeare’s play has been rearranged and truncated, starting and finishing with Juliet awakening from a drug induced hallucination in a gloomy basement. With her we try to grope out way back through her memories and discover how she got to this point.
The choreography by Hampson is terrific – muscular and dramatic, beautifully acted and danced, particularly by Juliet (Kayla-Maree Tarantolo), Romeo (Ishan Mahabir-Stokes) and Lady Capulet (Marge Hendrick). who is especially good in her first scene where, clad in skin tight leopard skin type outfit, she is trying to persuade Juliet to accept Paris (Yuri Marques).as her suitor. The settings for the Capulet and Montagu dwellings, filmed in Dumfries House in Ayrshire, are magnificent. Particularly intriguing is Romeo’s huge bedroom, where he and his chum Mercutio (Andrea Azzari) hang out. A huge room with a drum kit nestling in one corner.
And the party where the lovers meet? No grand ballroom this but a scruffy queer rave club called The Apothecary, ruled not by Friar Lawrence but by drag Sisters Laurence and Giovanna (Harvey Littlefield and Rishan Benjami). The scenes inside are vibrant, raw and exciting while the fight which erupts outside between Mercutio and a violent, frustrated Tybalt (James Garrington) get killed is brutal, yet gracefully muscular.
This is no pretty period love story with a sad ending, which is how Shakespeare’s play can sometimes come across but a strong contemporary dance drama with some superb performances in what is very much a film, not a filmed stage ballet. The idea of the story being Juliet’s drug induced hallucination is interesting and effective though the ending is a bit obscure. My only other reservation is the title, which doesn’t relate to the story well and is very forgettable. But everything else? Superb.
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