Romeo + Juliet

A lot of people are put off Shakespeare by the language...it's too hard they whine. It's not. Really. It just takes some getting used to.

If you're in London then I think that at some point you have to go to the theatre. It doesn't have to be Shakespeare...London has plenty of shows and there's bound to be something you'll like. Come on even my dad stayed awake when he went to see Spamalot, the Monty Python musical.

So yesterday I got to see Romeo and Juliet at the Regent's Park Open air theatre. It was very different from what I expected. First of all I didn't expect the theatre to be so big.

It can seat a lot of people. And for an outdoor theatre the sound and lighting system was amazing.


The play was really good. The costumes were from the 50's, it was all influenced a bit by West Side Story (which is basically a musical Romeo and Juliet in New York). Romeo and Tibault used flick knives just like in WSS. All the fight scenes were very dancey.

There was a lot of red in the costumes. I was drooling over all the dresses. I kept thinking I want that I want that. Juliet's dresses were all very pretty flouncy 50's dresses. And even the Montague and Capulet ladies had some great dresses. I was really supposed to have been born in the 50's.

The weather was great for once. In fact this whole week the English summer have been just that, summer. Normally it feels like bloody autumn here, with more rain. So the last few days of actual hot sunshine has been very welcome. Too bad I've been working and not able to fully lounge around in the sun.

I want to go back and watch Twelfth Night. I'm sure it'll be good.