Alright, alright it’s clearly a prop but come on guys, it’s a play, she’s not actually gonna die. Suspend your flipping disbelieve will you? Playwright and novelist Sharman Macdonald was born in Glasgow in 1951. Educated at the University of Edinburgh, she graduated in 1972 and moved to London where she acted with the 7:84 theatre company and at the Royal Court Theatre. While she was working as an actress, she wrote her first play, When I Was a Girl, I Used to Scream and Shout (1985), first performed at the Bush Theatre in 1984. The play won the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright. I could have used a bit more brain, though; “& Juliet” sometimes seems suspicious of its own intelligence, like a nerd invited to the cool kids’ party, only to get drunk and vomit in the pool. All in all a lively and affecting performance of a play that might well, however, be less interesting if it wasnt already stood on the shoulders of a giant. Juliet gives glimpses of her determination, strength, and sober-mindedness, in her earliest scenes, and offers a preview of the woman she will become during the four-day span of Romeo and Juliet. While Lady Capulet proves unable to quiet the Nurse, Juliet succeeds with one word (also in Act 1, scene 3). In addition, even in Juliet’s dutiful acquiescence to try to love Paris, there is some seed of steely determination. Juliet promises to consider Paris as a possible husband to the precise degree her mother desires. While an outward show of obedience, such a statement can also be read as a refusal through passivity. Juliet will accede to her mother’s wishes, but she will not go out of her way to fall in love with Paris.

After Juliet is a play written by Scottish playwright Sharman Macdonald. [1] It was commissioned for the 2000 [2] Connections programme, in which regional youth theatre groups compete to stage short plays by established playwrights. ELSPETH: Looking after a person, being responsible for them. That's hard learnt [...] You taught me to care, my God. Demanded that I ... that I care. With your screaming and your crying and your wee hands that beat at me and grabbed at me [...] Just because you're all grown up. I've to stop? All that caring. I've to stop?' Director: That’s great. I really liked the way you did that. It is quite out there. And I just slightly worry that we might be alienating the audience too much so, if it’s alright with you I’d like to just try something else. Juliet is passionate when she first meets Romeo. She kisses him when they first meet, and later on, in the famous balcony scene, she declares her love for him.

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Undoing that fate became the musical’s animating principle and spine. In Read’s telling, Juliet (Lorna Courtney in a blow-you-away performance) doesn’t die but rather wakes up confused and a little emo following Romeo’s suicide. Cue “…Baby One More Time,” which she performs, still in her funeral dress but also sporting headphones and a Walkman, in front of her lover’s sarcophagus. She is a Capulet, a cousin of Juliet, and loved Romeo, and ironically is the lady whom Romeo claims to love at the start of his play, though she rejected his every advance.

This performance seemed somewhat confused between its Renaissance and more modern setting Jonah Walker This shows how headstrong Juliet is, as she refuses her parents and declares she will not get married to Paris. The use of the exclamation mark heightens Juliet's emotions as she is shouting her refusal. Presenter: Hello and welcome to The Big Scene. We’re in the tomb at the end of Romeo and Juliet and it’s about as cheerful as the last time I saw my in-laws, Christmas ’96. Thanks for asking. The plot of After Juliet is quite sparse. Honestly, it’s more of an extended epilogue to Romeo and Juliet (albeit with a cast of almost exclusively new characters) than its own narrative. I didn’t mind this, but it does stop the play from having a stronger identity of its own. I wasn’t a huge fan of most of the characters: Rosaline, the text’s clear pride and joy, was surprisingly underdeveloped after all that I had heard about this work (although I recognize that all of her lines and behavior could certainly be bolstered by a dynamic performance) and Benvolio (the only real character of significance in this play that also had a considerable role in Romeo and Juliet) was disappointingly reduced to nothing more than a puppy dog mooning after her. However, this could very well be my retelling bias at play: I was so enamored with the Rosaline and Benvolio of Melinda Taub’s Still Star-Crossed (the book, not the TV series of the same name) that they somehow became my quintessential versions of the characters, and it’s possible that I would have liked After Juliet's interpretations of the characters more had I not been exposed to so many other versions beforehand.

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Comic relief is provided by two Capulet boys with boastful, braggardly conversations, written with an ear for the bard and filled with wonderful non-sequiturs and played with a laddish teenage joie de vivre by Louis Wellings and Declan McElroy. Presenter: Oh and an inspired touch! I don’t think anybody saw that shot coming! Super special effects skill from the director there. Well played my son! Lady Capulet calls to her daughter. Juliet wonders why her mother would come to speak to her so early in the morning. Unaware that her daughter is married to Romeo, Lady Capulet enters the room and mistakes Juliet’s tears as continued grief for Tybalt. Lady Capulet tells Juliet of her deep desire to see “the villain Romeo” dead (3.5.80). In a complicated bit of punning every bit as impressive as the sexual punning of Mercutio and Romeo, Juliet leads her mother to believe that she also wishes Romeo’s death, when in fact she is firmly stating her love for him. Remember, the audience has been building up to this moment for the past few hours so it’s got to be dramatically satisfying. Otherwise, you could have a riot on your hands.