Romeo and Juliet – Shakespeare’s Globe

Last Updated on August 21, 2025

Shakespeare’s Globe provides a light and fun interpretation of Romeo and Juliet this summer.

4.0 out of 5.0 stars

As the audience stood or sat in the temperate London evening, the chorus announced that we had been transported to “fair Verona, where we lay our scene”. And then out came the actors, dressed to the nines in cowboy hats and gun belts, and it was clear that we were, in fact, in the Wild West.

Such is the magic of Shakespeare’s Globe that an audience can exist comfortably in three places at once, the frequent interruptions of aeroplanes taking off from London City Airport more of a contribution to the performance than a distraction.

This production of Romeo and Juliet, directed by the Globe’s Associate Artistic Director Sean Holmes, is spirited and funny, choosing to lift the play’s comedy of miscommunication above its tragedy of unnecessary death. For a Thursday night in May, it felt like the right choice.

The production’s freshness comes from the set and the charisma of the cast. The former, designed by Paul Wills, is a big, wooden barn-like structure with actors on the lower deck and a band occupying the upper tier – a banjo, a saxophone, a clarinet and a double bass (amongst other instruments) framed by swinging wooden doors. The occasional gun is fired, and there is the odd nod of the cap, but the transposition is taken lightly; there is no replacing of the play’s references to Italy, nor is any attempt made to explain who the two houses of Verona might represent in the Wild West. This is a sensible choice; Shakespeare’s plays, especially when performed at the Globe, have always been exercises in the suspension of disbelief. The adaptation of Romeo and Juliet entertains, but does not distract.

And then there is the cast – sweet central performances by Lola Shalam and Rawaed Asde, their union played as the naive infatuation of children more than profound love. Shalam, in particular, won over the audience with her humour and energy, and it was only for her death at the very end that there was complete silence in the Globe, the faint rush of the Thames heard for the first time in the Wild West of Northern Italy.

One of the highlights of the performance was the melodramatic balcony scene, Juliet wheeled through the standing audience on a raised platform. Her excitement was infectious and her delivery charming, with Shakespeare’s timeless language restoring the gravity to an interaction that might otherwise, as directed here, have left little room for anything but levity.

The star of the show – stealing every scene in which he appeared and then sorely missed after his death at the end of the first half – was Mercutio, played by Michael Elcock. His physical comedy and interactions with the audience lit up the production, exemplifying all the best elements of this interpretation of Romeo and Juliet. The second half did not fully recover from Elcock’s absence until the final scene.

Romeo and Juliet at the Globe this summer is an enjoyable night out and a reminder, if ever it was needed, of Shakespeare’s unsurpassed storytelling skill and the privilege, in being a Londoner, of having such immediate access to his work.

22 May – 2 August

Shakespeare’s Globe,
21 New Globe Walk
Bankside
London SE1 9DT