Romeo and Juliet starring Sadie Sink and Noah Jupe (Harold Pinter Theatre, West End) - ★★★★ REVIEW

Summary

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MickeyJoTheatre Podcast Summary

Episode: Romeo and Juliet starring Sadie Sink and Noah Jupe (Harold Pinter Theatre, West End) – ★★★★ REVIEW
Host: MickeyJoTheatre
Date: April 6, 2026

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Overview

In this episode, acclaimed social media theatre critic Mickey Jo reviews the much-anticipated West End production of Romeo and Juliet at the Harold Pinter Theatre, helmed by visionary director Robert Icke and starring Sadie Sink (Stranger Things, Broadway’s John Proctor is the Villain) and Noah Jupe (Hamnet). Mickey Jo offers a rich and analytical take on the reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s classic, exploring both the creative risks and performances that set this Romeo and Juliet apart.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Perpetual Revival of Romeo and Juliet (01:32)

• Opening Thought:
  "It's become a sort of Newtonian law of commercial theatre that if two young actors emerge around the same time and are exciting buzzy talents, then some producer will coerce them into a revival of Romeo and Juliet."
• Mickey Jo reflects on his initial skepticism about another revival and whether the play’s overexposure hinders its impact.

2. Robert Icke’s Vision: Style and Substance (03:12)

• The production is “edgy and intense and stylized and raw”, drawing on continental European theatre influences.
• Set Design: Described as a minimalist, Black Mirror-esque “colorless stage with a double bed centrally placed” and digital date/time projections.
• The omission of the famous prologue sets the tone for a stripped-back, character-focused production.

3. The “What If” Multiverse Concept (06:23)

• Icke’s production explores alternate realities and near-miss moments using visual “blinding flashes” and scenic resets, showing how simple events could have derailed or averted the tragedy.
• The play introduces literal flashpoints:
  "There's a moment at the party that would have prevented them catching each other's eye…"
• These devices ask urgent questions about fate, agency, and the fragility of pivotal moments.

4. Use and Critique of the Digital Clock Motif (09:00)

• Projections of time reinforce the story’s shocking speed — but Mickey Jo finds this both “a distraction” and possibly unnecessary, noting it risks making the pacing feel forced.
• Memorable Analogy:
  “It does also make it feel a little bit like we're watching an episode of 24, and Kiefer Sutherland may arrive at any point to try and deactivate an explosive device.” (10:01)

5. Pacing, Structure, and Key Juxtapositions (12:00)

• Icke employs spliced dialogues and parallel action—e.g., Juliet kneeling in devotion as Romeo simultaneously murders Tybalt—to heighten dramatic tension.
• Opening merges household feud dialogue with Juliet’s nightmare, giving her subjectivity a new limelight.

6. Accents & Casting Dynamics (13:50)

• Noted contrast: Juliet and her parents speak in American accents; Montagues are largely British. This difference is not thematically expounded upon but provides intriguing texture.

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Performances

1. Sadie Sink as Juliet & Noah Jupe as Romeo (15:33)

• On Sink:
  Intense, physical performance style, “frenzied in her speed”, excelling in trauma and comic moments but sometimes less effective with the verse.
  "She just feels so contemporary and so blisteringly good at contemporary theater that it's hard to enjoy her as much doing something very different." (16:10)
• On Jupe:
  A remarkable stage debut; “so good at Shakespeare”, delivering text with “measured and lyrical and romantic” quality.
  “It’s hard not to feel a real sense of magic being conjured in this moment, when he is so close to us…delivering this dialogue in a rare moment of quiet…” (18:15)
• Their chemistry evokes a genuine juvenile sweetness and awkward energy.
• Notable moment: Jupe’s Romeo, from the front rows, whispers “speak again” as he gazes at Juliet (19:44).

2. Supporting Cast Highlights (21:00)

• Clare Perkins as Nurse: Offers humor and pathos, with moments echoing West Side Story.
• Mercutio (Casper Hilton Hill):
  Portrayed as “somewhere between manic drunken and a sex pest…antagonizing those from the house of Capulet.” Mickey Jo is put off by the characterization, though the Queen Mab speech is powerfully lit (29:00).
• Clark Gregg as Lord Capulet:
  Commended for nuanced shifts between warmth and frightening severity; background subplots hint at marital discord and infidelity.
• Eden Epstein as Lady Capulet:
  Subtle but dynamic, conveying layers of personal drama often overlooked in the text.
• Other Highlights: Dylan Corbett Bader as Benvolio; Jamie Ankara as Peter (“Never have I left a production of Romeo and Juliet thinking what a great Peter that was” – 21:55); Aruna Jallo as Tybalt.

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Notable Creative Choices & Spoiler Section

1. “Multiverse” Possibilities (27:05)

• Icke surprises familiar audiences with alternate outcomes at key moments, keeping tension high despite the well-known ending.
• Mercutio’s Death:
  Begins as a joke—“Oh, a plague on both thy houses. Hahahahaha”—until he discovers the wound’s true depth (28:00).
• Unique scene underscores the narrative's awareness of audience expectations.

2. Musical and Lighting Touches

• Unexpected use of “I Don’t Like Mondays” during the Tybalt/Mercutio conflict—Mickey Jo finds this jarring and distracting.
• Lighting design by John Clarke praised, e.g., Queen Mab’s silhouette and warm colors for the lovers’ first meeting (29:45).

3. Juliet’s Costume as Narrative Symbol (30:20)

• Juliet’s tight corseting early on, shifting to a loose, hippie-style wedding dress after marriage symbolizes her fleeting taste of autonomy.

4. Shattering the Conventional Ending (34:32)

• The final scene is “the best version of this final scene that I have ever witnessed. It's extraordinary.”
• Juliet, after supposedly taking her potion, does not collapse dead but observes subsequent action from the bed—blurring lines between reality and wish fulfillment.
• Heart-wrenching stagecraft:
  A child resembling Juliet (Sadie Sink) and older versions of her and Romeo appear, enacting a never-lived life together ("what their life together could have been were it not for this particular ending").
• Mickey Jo is emotionally overwhelmed by the "flash before her eyes of everything they never got to have together" (37:30).

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Memorable Quotes

• "There is an extraordinary amount for us to say about the way in which this has been brought to the stage, about what Icke’s vision for Romeo and Juliet looks like, as well as its leading performances." – Mickey Jo (03:15)
• "It's hard not to feel a real sense of magic being conjured in this moment, when he is so close to us, looking out over the first few rows of the audience and delivering this dialogue in a rare moment of quiet…" – (18:15)
• "The production manages against all odds to find something new to say with the story of Romeo and Juliet. And the ending is captivating." – (38:27)
• "You feel, for a brief moment, transported ... as if you are the groundlings gathered around a simple, sparse stage, simply listening to the poetry of the whole thing." – (18:45)
• "It's this gorgeous little flash before her eyes of everything they never got to have together. And my jaw drops the entire time I'm watching this. It's profoundly moving…" – (37:50)

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Standout Segments & Timestamps

• Robert Icke’s Vision & Set – 03:12
• Exploring “What If” Possibilities – 06:23
• Digital Clock Critique – 10:01
• Accent & Casting Dynamics – 13:50
• Sadie Sink and Noah Jupe’s Performances – 15:33
• Simple Magic of Stage Moments – 18:15
• Mercutio’s Death Twist – 28:00
• Lighting & Costume Analysis – 29:45, 30:20
• Stunning Final Scene & Alternate Futures – 34:32
• Emotional Impact and Final Thoughts – 37:30–38:27

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Final Thoughts

Mickey Jo ultimately awards the production four stars, crediting Robert Icke for revitalizing a well-worn play and finding new interpretations that are at times breathtaking and provocatively staged—even if not every choice entirely lands.
Noah Jupe’s Romeo is hailed as a breakout stage debut, while Sadie Sink’s talents are seen as perhaps most at home in contemporary drama, though she displays formidable skill and comic timing.
The ending, with its multiverse glimpses and extended catharsis, is, for Mickey Jo, genuinely moving and original:
“This is a really interesting piece that manages against all odds to find something new to say with the story of Romeo and Juliet. And the ending is captivating.” (38:27)

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Transcript

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[Micky Jo (Theatre Critic)]

It's become a sort of Newtonian law of commercial theatre that if two young actors emerge around the same time and are exciting buzzy talents, then some producer will coerce them into a revival of Romeo and Juliet. Is the fact that I've never all the way enjoyed this play intrinsically linked to it being overdone? Or does it have more to do with various productions not quite being able to explore and unveil of the play's facets amidst the search for something new to say? Admittedly, with so many new pairs of young lovers meeting every year, courting via balcony and then killing themselves days later, we can at least entertain ourselves with the question, what kind of a Romeo and Juliet is this one? Before I answer that question for you. Oh my God. Hey, welcome back to my theatre themed YouTube channel. Or hello to those of you listening to this review on podcast platforms My name is Mickey Jo and I am obsessed with all things theatre. I'm a content creator and and a critic here on social media and a few days ago I was invited to the Press night performance of one of London's buzziest new spring openings, a new production of Romeo and Juliet, directed by visionary wunderkind theatre maker Robert Eich and starring two exciting young talents celebrated for their work on screen, Sadie Sink and Noah Jupe. She from the Stranger Things as well as Broadway's John Proctor, is the villain, he from the Hamnet. And while the prospect of seeing both stars on stage in a new Robert Icke production was exciting, I was little preemptively disappointed slash resentful about having to sit through yet another Romeo and Juliet so soon after the last. But to its credit, this production surprised me, moved me even. There is an extraordinary amount for us to say about the way in which this has been brought to the stage, about what Ike's vision for Romeo and Juliet looks like, as well as its leading performances. If you have already had the chance to see this at the Harold Pinter Theatre, please let me know what you thought in the comments section down below. In the meantime, I look forward to sharing my thoughts with you. If you'd like to hear my thoughts about other shows, make sure to subscribe here on YouTube or follow me on podcast platforms. But in the meantime, let's talk about Romeo and Juliet. So for those of you who have seen Robert Icke's work on stage before, this is probably pretty much what you're expecting in terms of his interpretation of Romeo and Juliet and what that might look like. One of his most recent stage successes was the Olivier Award winning production of Oedipus, starring Mark Strong and Leslie Manville, also seen this Broadway season. And this production, which immediately establishes this sort of a black mirror kind of a vibe, exists in a similar realm of intensity and a forensic, detailed approach to character and intention, with an evidently precise appraisal of the text having taken place. It is like much of his other work and like the inspirations from contemporary European theatre, edgy and intense and stylized and raw with a combination of two different kinds of creative choices, some which are revealing and honest and hands off, particularly in terms of the staging of a lot of major monologues and passages and speeches and other moments in which we really feel the artifice of a vision foisted on top of this piece. I'll give you a little flavour of the introduction. This all black preset reveals a colorless stage with a double bed centrally placed on it, behind which there are two sliding black translucent screens onto which the date and time can be projected. This happens frequently throughout the hour production, ostensibly as an indication of how quickly the narrative progresses and how soon after their initial meeting, these two young lovers meet their fates, which, fear not, is no kind of a spoiler. They tell you all about it in the introduction, or at least they usually do, that is excised from this production. We have no two households, both alike in dignity. There exists no character within the context of this production to deliver that sort of a moral message or warning, or however you wish to interpret it to an audience. Instead, broadly, this feels like a Romeo and Juliet that exists neither to uplift the passion and the romance of the story, nor the rivalry and the tension and the violence of it all, as we have seen previous productions contend with. Instead, it feels centered entirely around these two. The bed is at the center of the playing space for much of the stage time, and Sadie and Noah are, within the direction and within the staging, very much uplifted and afforded agency, even though they read very youthful on stage. In terms of what this Romeo and Juliet does want to say, it asks questions about the circumstances in which they may not have met and they may have avoided the fate that eventually befalls them. The way in which it does that is this almost multiverse of madness, kind of a conceit. I mentioned that we have the date and the time on stage, which I have thoughts about, that I'll circle back to. Don't let me forget that. But as the exposition carries on and as we arrive at the scenes that constitute the first meeting of Romeo and Juliet, as well as the progression of their relationship and the circumstances that lead to each of their deaths, we have these sort of flashpoints. I mean that quite literally because there is this blinding flash before darkness and then a resetting of the moment that has just passed, and we see a certain possibility of how a situation may have been avoided, or indeed a circumstance that could have prevented them even meeting in the first place. There's a moment at the party that would have prevented them catching each other's eye. There's a moment prior to that that would have prevented Romeo even invited to the Capulet ball in the first place, or at least ending up there later on. It asks some of the more traditional questions, such as, what if the message had reached Romeo, rather than him never finding out about the poorly constructed plan of Friar Lawrence? Or the very romantic ideal of what if, upon his arrival to the Capulet tomb. Juliet wasn't lying as if dead, but simply sat up to greet him instead. However, to increasingly heartbreaking effect, we see a second flash and realize that this is not the situation that actually occurred, and we then see what did happen or what does happen in each case. And I'll tell you a little more about some of the specificity of these choices and the ideas that Ike explores here in these tangential possibilities when we have more of a spoiler inclusive discussion of creative choices a little bit later on. But I promised I would tell you what I think of the clock of it all. And I wonder if this is a remnant of spending so much time with Oedipus, which fatefully and meaningfully and effectively counts down until this exact split second of damning revelation with Romeo and Juliet. For a handful of reasons, I don't think it's quite as necessary. The idea here seems to be to indicate how quickly it all passes, as well as to help to convey what we're seeing in these flashpoints. When the clock moves back a little, it's a little bit of an explanation to the audience, this is what we're doing. This is sort of the identity of this entire production. Get on board now. You have no other choice. But I have an issue not with the concept necessarily. They're not the first production. Jamie Lloyd's did this as well, to kind of broadcast like it is now Sunday, it is now Monday. I don't know that we need to do it to such a degree. I don't know that the exact number of seconds necessarily matters, because unlike with Oedipus, it doesn't really matter the exact second at which any of these things took place. The fact that it's a digital clock countdown ties in with the pseudo anachronistic, sort of generic contemporary aesthetic of the entire production and its design. It does also make it feel a little bit like we're watching an episode of 24, and Kiefer Sutherland may arrive at any point to try and deactivate an explosive device. That is a dated reference, but I stand by it. For those of you who don't know, it's like the Pit, but with terrorism. I find the orange glow of this projection, as well as the ticking, something of a distraction. And I also think the more that you tell me, like, this is all happening so fast, this is all happening like it's only one day later, the more it almost takes away from that. I would argue when it comes to the passage of time in this story, the only really significant unit is the day itself. And there is a moment when the midnight hour arrives and we move from Monday to Tuesday. And I think just generally like the fact that like they met at the weekend and they're dead before Wednesday, that's probably striking enough. And you may be wondering how we manage a three hour runtime when we've cut such things as the iconic introductory section of the text. And some of it has to do with circling back on ourselves and doing these like little what if moments before carrying on with the rest of the story as it is meant to unfold. There are also a couple of extended wordless moments, one of which comes towards the very end and is, I'm not going to spoil it for you, but it's the most jaw dropping sequence I've seen in quite a long time. It's this sort of a final artistic Hail Mary that I think almost changes the entire trajectory of the production film. But we'll talk about it in more detail a little later on. Otherwise I would say that Ike does a lot to really up the pace of this production compared with previous attempts. There are a couple of scenes that are juxtaposed alongside each other with the dialogue spliced. You have towards the end of the first act, which occurs, I think, a little later than it usually would towards the end of the first act of this two act version of a multi act play, at least before the interval, with Juliet kneeling on the floor and swearing her loyalty to her husband, while he in that very moment is in a fit of rage murdering her cousin. There's more of this back at the very beginning too, when we actually open with Juliet on her bed in the middle of the stage with the nurse walking in, asking her if she bites her thumb, leading us into the feuding dialogue between representatives of the houses of Montague and Capulet, as denoted here on my scarf, provoking each other with do you bite your thumb at me, sir? Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? Yada yada yada, let's all fight about it in the street. All of this drenched in reverb in the sound design and played around Juliet's bed as she watches on nervously to suggest to us that this is some kind of a nightmare that she is having. Although the pronouncement following it by the Prince is quite real. Interestingly, when Romeo first arrives, he is also secreted underneath Juliet's duvet. And there's this sort of a transition from one household to another as Benvolio yanks him out of there and he enters Sort of playfully and charmingly in comparison with the devastation that we've seen other Romeos begin this story with. He is far from despair as he talks about his infatuation with his friend and slowly dresses himself for a Zara catalog photo shoot. Worth saying. Before I neglect to mention, in recent productions, they've really played on the difference between Romeo and Juliet. For a long time, we kept getting productions where this was a sort of noughts and crosses style racial divide they really loved for a long time. And also quite recently, to have white young men playing Romeo opposite actresses of color as Juliet. This isn't the first time I've heard them do an accent divide. Because not only Juliet, played by Sadie Sink, but also both of her parents are portrayed with American accents in this production, with no real explanation as to why. Also, with no commentary on the current precarious nature of the special relationship between Britain and the United States in these trying international times. Although how exactly you would evoke that in this traditional Shakespearean verse, I'm not quite sure. I'll say as well, there's almost always a slightly different configuration of parents happening here. This being a story of these two young lovers who are from households that are these great historic rivals in a constant grudge match with bloody consequences. It's interesting then, to see a number of productions where the heads of those households are unevenly represented. And there is more material in the play for the Capulets. But we meet Juliet's mother and father distinctly here with a lot going on that I will get to. While we have only brief flashes of Romeo's father, played by a member of the company who also takes on other roles. What we're juxtaposing more than anything else here, I suppose, in is Romeo having a laddie young time with his two best friends, and Juliet in this very protected environment by her parents and her nurse. And speaking of the titular characters, why don't I tell you a little bit more about the performances of Noah Jupe and Sadie Sink, as well as the rest of the company?

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[Micky Jo (Theatre Critic)]

Now. I have had the pleasure of seeing Sadie Sink on stage before on Broadway in John Proctor Is the Villain, which curiously, is arriving in London at almost exactly the same time. Stay tuned for my review of the production at the Royal Court very soon. Noah Jupe, meanwhile, has just appeared in a very Shakespeare adjacent film, but this is actually his stage debut. I find that remarkable because he is extraordinary in it, particularly in his delivery of Shakespeare. And the notion of Sadie Sink working with Robert Icke is so exciting and I hope that it happens in again, potentially in something more contemporary, not necessarily a Shakespearean vehicle. Noah, meanwhile, is so good at Shakespeare, I want him to do more of it and perhaps even a more traditional production. I would say of the two of them, he seems really well suited to the Shakespeare of it all. It's hard to escape the idea of hearing a British and American accent do this at the same time. But he's also just a lot more measured and lyrical and romantic in his delivery. And a lot of what she does is very physicalized and very intense, but also manic and very, very pacey. In some of her earliest monologue moments, she is frenzied in her speed, and it feels like we lose a lot of the detail of what she's saying as she is racing her way through it. There are a couple of Stiller moments when the two of them are finally in dialogue together where it all calms down a little bit and it's easier to enjoy. But generally speaking, she just feels so contemporary and so blisteringly good at contemporary theater that it's hard to enjoy her as much doing something very different. And when you know, an actor is so good at one thing, it's difficult, I think, to appreciate a performance that is quite different to that. Generally speaking, there's no real sense of meter here. We are making modern acting choices. There are a few interesting moments of awkward comedy, especially with Juliet in these first moments of courtship when Romeo enters her room. I spoke not too long ago about the difficulty of playing the balcony scene with no distance between these two, because you need some sort of force to keep them apart for them to push against. And here they end up in the same room, dancing around this bed, this bed that gets encircled on many different occasions throughout the staging. But the impetus which emerges in the scene between the two of them is the dividing force of their better judgment. They sort of push towards each other and then push themselves back as they try and repress the way in which they really feel and the enthusiasm that they have for each other in this moment. This is all after what I think is one of the most emotionally connecting moments of the first act. Certainly when Noah jumps from the lip of the stage to stand amongst the front row of the stalls. This. As the lighting all turns a little warmer. It's hard not to feel a real sense of magic being conjured in this moment, when he is so close to us, looking out over the first few rows of the audience and delivering this dialogue in a rare moment of quiet, as the perpetual soundscape and the shuddering noises lower for him to have this moment of profound reflection. And I think what's really exciting about this moment, in addition to the extraordinary proximity to the actor who is reciting arise, fair son, etc. Is the simplicity of the whole thing. There are a couple of moments that really shine in this production for being just simple and allowing the emotion of the text to just exist, separate to the artifice of all of the creative vision. You feel, for a brief moment, transported to the kind of a setting in which this would have initially been performed, as if you are the groundlings gathered around a simple, sparse stage, simply listening to the poetry of the whole thing.

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[Micky Jo (Theatre Critic)]

It's also impossible not to be won over by him turning to watch her in her room on stage and whispering, willing her with the line, speak again. Meanwhile, she's pacing frantically, growing a lot more manic and gesticulating wildly. She carries an awful lot of tension throughout her arms. We see this a lot towards the end of the first act as well, when she is kneeling and. And if you don't pay attention to what she's saying, it sort of looks like she's conjuring the devil. Before we arrive at that, though, and before the two of them are married, there's something very sweet and juvenile about this courtship and about the relationship that they Build together they are a well met Romeo and a Juliet. And if his finest moments are in his romantic pursuit of her, then hers perhaps come in the second act when she is weighing how best to navigate the complicated situation in which she finds herself. When her parents insist to her that she must agree to be married to Paris in the coming days, ignorant of the fact that Gurley's already got a husband who just became an enemy of the state. And listen, we've all been there, I will say of Sadie as well. So much of her career thus far has been marked by intensity and trauma and she's very good at communicating that through her eyes. There's a teary quality and an intensity which arrives especially into the second act. But she's also effortlessly funny. There are so many almost rom com moments with her screaming for the nurse and scrambling around and regretting saying something embarrassing to Romeo and sort of double taking after he's left the room or when he comes back and almost tripping over herself in glee. There is, I think, a great romantic comedy at some point in her future. And though the play be not called Romeo and Juliet and all of their friends, there are other members of the company whom we need to discuss. I love a great nurse and Clare Perkins is a formidable actress. I don't know that she gets to rise to the absolute height of her theatrical powers here, but she does have some fantastic moments and a huge emotional range to play. There is one interesting little what if multiverse moment when she is offended and subsequently assaulted by Mercutio. A little familiar perhaps, of west side Story. I love the moments when she kisses her teeth and has to aid Juliet very much against her better judgment. She also forms a great, if fleeting comedy double act with Jamie Ankara as Peter. Never have I left a production of Romeo and Juliet thinking what a great Peter that was. There's a. There's a first time for everything. This in the scene when they encounter Romeo alongside Mercutio and Benvolio. And I enjoyed Dylan Corbett Bader as Benvolio very much. I struggled with the characterization of Mercutio by Casper Hilton Hill. And don't get me wrong, I think he's doing a fantastic job portraying the character as it has been shaped. I also think that it landed very well with many other members of the audience. I found it a little off putting in its grotesque audacity because he is somewhere between manic drunken and a sex pest. Repeatedly dropping trou and deliberately antagonizing those from the house of Capulet. My issue with Mercutio always, especially if you have him really provoke this final confrontation is when he then has to deliver a plague on both thy houses. I get very like a plague on whose house exactly? When this is completely your fault, a plague on you and you alone. If you're going to behave this way, if we're being completely honest about it. More to say about how that moment is played in just a second, because I was genuinely shocked. John Marquez is a good, measured and weary friar. Lawrence Clark Gregg is a very interesting Lord Capulet because he is calm and thoughtful and understanding. He's another interesting one because he always has something of a very dramatic character shift from his first conversation with Paris when he's like, you don't need to be like, going so hard with my daughter. She's literally 13 years old. What if you calmed down into the second act when he's like, you will marry him literally by Wednesday, you awful prostitute, or I'll disown you. And that is, I think you can agree, a little extreme. And he finds this quiet intensity that manages to marry those two and allow them to both exist within this sort of recognizable characterization. And what Ike does in order to justify this is so fascinating. In the background of so many scenes in the first act, you can see different little flirtations and even relationships and perhaps extramarital affairs being indicated, being substantiated via other characters. There's a whole storyline happening with Lady Capulet. She's doing her own three act play in the background of this. We don't hear from her all too often, but she is always doing something meaningful when she is on stage. And there is so much implication in the complexity of their relationship and how it is his feelings about her, perhaps infidelity, that prompt him to really fly into this rage and unfortunately inflict this upon their daughter. This is suggested to us in one of those flash what if moments where he becomes a lot more forceful in trying to broker this marriage between Paris and Juliet, in response to seeing his wife hysterically throw herself at Paris, presumably mistaking him for the recently deceased Tybalt, with whom she was perhaps in love. She's played by Eden Epstein, and it's a fascinating performance of subtext and intention. Finally, I would also like to say Aruna Jallo is brilliant, if brief as Tybalt, but there is plenty more I'm very eager to tell you about when it comes to the specific creative choices made by this production. In the next section, there are going to be substantial spoilers if you have you haven't seen this production, go check it out for yourselves. If you don't care, stay with

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[Micky Jo (Theatre Critic)]

So one final warning about all of the spoilers in this section about specific creative choices. This is where we can really talk about it, because some of these what if multiversal flash possibility moments are so shocking and are so startling. But also, Ike seems determined to try and surprise us here in a narrative that we all assumedly enter the theater thinking that we have all figured out. There is at this point, no shocking an audience with the revelation that these two young lads us die at the end. So instead he delivers us the unexpected. And the first major example of this is during the death of Mercutio, when it appears as though what is usually a fatal blow is only a little scratch. And he has survived this. And he delivers all of his usual dying dialogue as a mockery of it, as a joke, saying, oh, imagine if I if I just got stabbed and was dying. Oh, a plague on both thy houses. Hahahahaha. Until he ruined removes a garment to reveal that the wound is actually much deeper than he'd realized. It's a double fake out. Because we assume briefly as the audience that oh my gosh, they're not killing off Mercutio. But they're still finding a way to do the dialogue before we realize, oh no, he is dead after all. He just didn't notice how badly he was stabbed. Of that scene, I'm not sure that we do quite enough, especially coming out of that moment of shock, to really build Noah towards a place of murderous intent. With the Return of Tybalt, I don't know that we all the way get there. And it comes alongside one of the production's more baffling creative choices. I mentioned that it is staged alongside Sadie conjuring the devil as Juliet, as it were. But we hear, and you're going to have to imagine this one because I can't possibly recreate it for you and do it justice. A version of the song I don't like Mondays, this all happening on a Monday, as we're reminded by the Jack Bauer 24 style date projection only I don't believe it's the original version of the song.

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[Micky Jo (Theatre Critic)]

It sounds to my ears like a sort of a Love island fire pit cover version. Or I suppose if you like the kind of song they play leading into a traitor's round table. In any case, the arrival of the familiar lyric does somewhat undercut the intensity and emotional impact of the moment. And people were talking about it in a not great way during the interval. I suppose the idea is to ignite a conversation about violence between young people, but it's not something particularly explored by this production. And when the line violent delights have violent ends does eventually come around, it's sort of smothered by a chorus of Gloria in excelsis Deo. Now before Mercutio dies and before they emerge after the party with Benvolio carrying a tiny little espresso cup and Mercutio speaking in a mock French accent and oh, I really enjoy this, actually. This is a fun little Shakespearean Easter egg. He usually notices the arrival of of the nurse and Peter by saying, a sale. A sale S A I L. Instead they arrive carrying bags that say on them in big red letters, sale S A L E. That's a fun little nod. But prior to all of this we have the famous Queen Mab speech. And I never necessarily gain all that much from this, I'll be completely honest. But I love the way in which it was lit. A simple but striking choice in which a single light exists below Mercutio in order to cast a shadow of him and create his silhouette with an enormous arm span on the upper proscenium and the ceiling of the Harold Pinter Theatre. There's a similar moment later on when a single torch is the only source of light in the Capulet tomb in the final scene between Romeo and Juliet. All of this the brilliant work of master lighting designer John Clarke. I also enjoy outer of the cold black and white of it all, this warm yellow glow when they encounter each other for the first time, when we hear Romeo delivering like did I ever love until now, etc. And indeed she does teach the torches to burn bright when Sadie Sink arrives in this scarlet mini dress. I want to talk about some of the costuming because there are some very interesting choices. There are sort of pseudo Elizabethan elements. Clark Gregg is in something of. Of a doublet and Noah Dupe is in something of a sleeveless version of that. But it's Juliet's costuming I find the most intriguing because she is so tightly corseted in these early moments and is in the moment of her marriage, liberated from that. She is no longer in corseting. She gets married specifically in this very shapeless, free flowing wedding dress with her hair a little less tightly tied and with a flower crown in it, making us think 60s, making us think hippie thinking what? Thinking freedom. Thinking liberation. The corset's undone. She is free. She is a young woman free of her parents. I guess Hildegard Bechler is for this production, not only the costume designer but also the set designer. What we really need to talk about, though, is the downhill stretch towards the final moments of this production. And we've seen these flashpoints, points of what if and alternative possibilities. And there comes a moment after this gorgeously played desperate goodbye between the newly married lovers played over the lip of the stage before he runs out into the auditorium, banished as he has been from the literal playing space. And subsequently we see flashes, but we don't see alternative possibilities. They become frequent. There is a loud sort of of thunderous effect to accompany them, as if we find ourselves in this storm of determined certainty. We know them to be making fateful choices in these moments, but there are for these two characters no other options. There is no other path than the one on which they already find themselves. They are to a certain extent doomed. It's a sort of a lightning punctuated storm of horrifying inevitability, right up until we discover that the message hasn't been successfully delivered to Romeo and we are shown the possibility of what if it was the messenger, interestingly enough, played by the same actor who plays Mercutio, a choice that doesn't necessarily manifest with all that much meaning, but one that is presumably meant to, given that there are enough other members of the company who could have played this very minor role. After which we make our way into the Capulet tomb. And the best version of the this final scene that I have ever witnessed. It's extraordinary. And up until this point I have strongly mixed feelings about the creative choices being made. Some of it I really enjoy, some of it I don't think is necessarily paying off. Some of it I find a little over stimulating. Some of it I find a little emotionally detached and clinical. But once we get into this tube and they play this scene together in the way in which Eike conceives it, it everything here is revelatory. And the last we've seen of Juliet, she is making the choice to swallow this potion that will allow her to appear dead. Only we don't see her collapse down as if dead. She remains conscious, sat up on her bed, watching everything that happened subsequently in third person, because she watches on as Clare Perkins, as the nurse throws herself on the bed trying to wake Juliet, whose body is not there. And that sets us up for a real gut punch when Noah enters from the back of the stage into the tomb and Sadie immediately sits up in recognition of him. And we see the ending that perhaps we have longed for, that we have never seen before in Romeo and Juliet. Only it is interrupted by a brutal flash darkness, and then lights back up in a replay of the scene to remind us that that isn't what happens. But we're almost ready to see her sit up because that's the last that we saw of her. So it all works in a very clever, incredibly thought out way, as is Robert Icke style. He is going to think about these things in precise analytical detail. We then, of course, have the double suicide brought about by Juliet waking up simply a few seconds too late from her coma, rendered even more painful here as we see her beginning to stir before Romeo has swallowed his poison. And if her reaction to awaking with him dead in her arms doesn't necessarily feel sufficiently horrified or full of the shock that you might expect, what comes next is going to make you forget all about it. Because as Juliet, cradling a dead Romeo, contemplates stabbing his knife into her stomach, she suddenly turns her attention towards a young girl who has entered into the playing space who we haven't seen up to this point. This is real shocking to us. This is a child on stage who obviously looks a lot like Juliet, who has Sadie Sink's very recognizable Flame Red Hair, who begins to skip around the playing space and is met by Noah Dupe, playing an alive possibility of Romeo. We quickly figure out what we're looking at is what their life together could have been were it not for this particular ending to their story. Soon afterwards, an older actress walks on stage playing an aged version of Juliet, met whom she will never be. She is also met by Noah as Romeo. And then we see him with a baby, a child again. It is brutal, it's heartbreaking. It goes on for quite a long time. It's this gorgeous little flash before her eyes of everything they never got to have together. And my jaw drops the entire time I'm watching this. It's profoundly moving and I wonder why this couldn't be. Not only the energy with which the rest of the production was directed, but specifically with this kind of a vision. I feel like there are more opportunities to implement this sort of an idea. And if we're going to explore a production of Romeo and Juliet that is all about possibilities and what ifs, then I think, pursuant to this exact idea, it may have found more success by glancing a little, little further into the future. Throughout, not to step on the toes of this moment, which is breathtaking and surprising. I also think for those who aren't necessarily all the way on board with the rest of the production, it does an awful lot to try and win you over in the last few moments. It's a hell of a move. That is everything that I have to say about Robert Icke's production of Romeo and Juliet at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London and go and check this out for yourself, I absolutely encourage you to do so. Because all of the choices, whether they are provocative, whether they are perhaps a little too stylized, whether they are hugely emotional or unemotional, they're all going to make you really think about the power of theatre and the decisions being made here in the telling of this story. This is a really interesting piece that manages against all odds, odds to find something new to say with the story of Romeo and Juliet. And the ending is captivating. I won't necessarily say that I thought it was a perfect production. I look forward to seeing Noah Jupe doing more work on stage. I look forward to seeing Sadie sink in more interesting contemporary roles than Juliet. And I look forward to seeing more of Robert Icke's work as not just a director, but also as an adapter when he can truly grip the wheel with both hands. For now, though, I have shared all my thoughts and I'm very curious to hear yours. If you have already had the chance to see Romeo and Juliet at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London, please let me know what you thought in the comments section down below. Trying to avoid spoilers if we can. In the meantime, thank you so much for listening to this review. I hope you enjoyed if you did, and would like to hear more of my thoughts on all of the theatre that I see. You can subscribe here on YouTube, you can follow me on podcast platforms, or you can sign up to my free weekly substack newsletter at the link in the Description until the next time, I have been Micky Joe and I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey day. For 10 more seconds, I'm Micky Jo Theater oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a stagey day.

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[Micky Jo (Theatre Critic)]

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