Botanic Garden, Glasgow Four stars On the street, the barricades are full of bouquets tied on in tribute to the victims of the teenage gang warfare that runs riot throughout Bard in the Botanics’ latest look at Shakespeare’s tragedy of young lovers. Gordon Barr’s outdoor production sets out its store on designer Hannah Grace Currie’s neglected building site. This becomes an adventure playground for the tracksuit sporting rebels without a cause who need to build a kingdom of their own. While Mercutio and Benvolio might be happy to represent the Montague young team in a square go with Tybalt and the Capulet kids, as soon as Romeo and the boys gatecrash Juliet’s family do, our hero’s one-track mind is set on her alone. Juliet may be up for it too, but if either of them gets found out they’ll be grounded for life, or worse. The perils of puppy love in the middle of a family feud are plain to see in Barr’s production, which has a mere five actors carry the pl...
An archive of arts writing by Neil Cooper. Effete No Obstacle.