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So when this goes live I don't know what I will be doing but I should (fingers crossed) have had a blissful anniversary weekend with the love of my life 😍
Anyway, I saw Romeo and Juliet on probably one of the hottest days of the year in the midst of July.
I took a half day at work and met my friend, Yasmin, at Charing Cross.
The show started at half two so I'd grabbed a wrap from WH Smiths and she grabbed a quick McDonalds (is it just us or when it's boiling do you just not want to eat??)
We were so excited because Richard Madden (aka Robb Stark from Game of Thrones!!!) was playing Romeo.
Not the whole reason we booked the tickets at alllllll 😉
Well, unfortunately, we arrived at the theatre and there on the wall was a notice to say that Richard Madden was indisposed due to a running injury.
A RUNNING INJURY.
God damn it.
Anyway, we settled ourselves into our seats (the tickets I'd booked were slightly cheaper with a notice that there would be a pillar blocking the view), the room was considerably cooler than the outside thank the Gods.
The pillar didn't seem to be in too much of my way, it was just obscuring whatever happened to be slightly to the right of the stage. Not a problem at all, right?
Ha, ha, ha.
It just so happened that Romeo's characters always stood in that exact spot so that I could rarely see him.
Well at least it wasn't concealing Richard Madden from view ey? Just his understudy (unfortunately I can't remember his name and we didn't pick up a programme - he was very good though).
Lily James made a stunning Juliet, the costumes and her performance equally beautiful.
The sets were also brilliant.
Directed by Kenneth Branagh (Gilderoy Lockhart for all you Harry Potter fans), the play itself was set in what seemed to be the 50s, with the Capulet's and Montague's dressed more like gangsters than in Shakespearian dress.
The masked ball and the final scene were probably my favourite.
Lily James rewarded us with a slice of her singing voice which was quite lovely actually and the whole forbidden love theme had me rooting for them even though I knew what was coming!
It was a little hard to follow the strong Shakespeare dialogue at times, but there were quite a few humourous bits as well as the odd song which we weren't expecting.
Derek Jacobi was also brilliant and worth a mention.
I definitely felt more educated once we left.
It's different from a full-on musical, a lot to take in, but an interesting experience and maybe one I will try again whether or not the male lead is someone from Game of Thrones!
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