Barton's
teaching was more relevant to ROMEO AND JULIET, a play full of sonnetry.
But I was nervous. 36 is no age to start playing Romeo; and my
over-earnest athleticism was more like the last gasp of youth than the
first flush of love. But at least I was old enough to find Romeo a
little ludicrous as well as tragic. One happy matinée, Francesca Annis
and I managed to get 27 intentional laughs in the balcony scene. We
played through a long season in Stratford and Newcastle-upon-Tyne and,
by the time we reached London, surprise, surprise, I was much better for
the experience. I ended up quite satisfied with my farewell to juvenile
roles. Unfortunately, the overhang of the Aldwych Theatre's dress-circle
restricts the view from the rear stalls. Sitting there, it's like
viewing the stage through a letter-box. The Capulet balcony was out of
sight. I've never understood why you need a balcony - Shakespeare never
mentions the word. The lovers are not kept apart by architecture: my
Romeo, who leapt the orchard wall and clambered half-way up the
proscenium arch, wouldn't be put off by a balcony, for God's sake! What
stops him getting at Juliet, is her insistence on keeping sex for
marriage, which precipitates the whole tragedy. The Aldwych should have
been an ideal opportunity to throw away an old tradition and to play the
scene on the flat. Imagine the emotional and sexual tension. Trevor Nunn
didn't agree. He installed television monitors at the back of the
stalls.
Barton's
teaching was more relevant to ROMEO AND JULIET, a play full of sonnetry.
But I was nervous. 36 is no age to start playing Romeo; and my
over-earnest athleticism was more like the last gasp of youth than the
first flush of love. But at least I was old enough to find Romeo a
little ludicrous as well as tragic. One happy matinée, Francesca Annis
and I managed to get 27 intentional laughs in the balcony scene. We
played through a long season in Stratford and Newcastle-upon-Tyne and,
by the time we reached London, surprise, surprise, I was much better for
the experience. I ended up quite satisfied with my farewell to juvenile
roles. Unfortunately, the overhang of the Aldwych Theatre's dress-circle
restricts the view from the rear stalls. Sitting there, it's like
viewing the stage through a letter-box. The Capulet balcony was out of
sight. I've never understood why you need a balcony - Shakespeare never
mentions the word. The lovers are not kept apart by architecture: my
Romeo, who leapt the orchard wall and clambered half-way up the
proscenium arch, wouldn't be put off by a balcony, for God's sake! What
stops him getting at Juliet, is her insistence on keeping sex for
marriage, which precipitates the whole tragedy. The Aldwych should have
been an ideal opportunity to throw away an old tradition and to play the
scene on the flat. Imagine the emotional and sexual tension. Trevor Nunn
didn't agree. He installed television monitors at the back of the
stalls. 
