
Written by the same person who did Guardians of the Galaxy fact fans.
Globe Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet (2021)
The Globe are staging Romeo and Juliet with a new twist this autumn, described as a “radical reinterpretation”. The Globe’s promotional literature will give you an idea of their approach – “Verona is sick.
Its structures broken and its citizens in a state of desperation. When a system favours the few, the many are left with nothing but unhealthy choices.” Yes, forget the New Oxford Shakespeare (which you might have read at school) this is the New Woke Shakespeare (which might be sponsored by BLM).
Romeo and Juliet are dark-keys in this version and its about teenage angst, suicide and the alleged failure of Society to accommodate young, specifically dark-key, people. In this version the Capulets and the Montagues are crazy drug overlords. There will be drugs and armed gang fights.
Behind the star struck lovers a screen will project facts and statistics about crime and mental health. In the words of one critic (Celia Walden in The Telegraph), this production reduces Shakespeare to “pshycobabble”.
Why does the Globe have to do this? They are meant to preserve Shakespeare’s heritage not traduce it.
This striving for contemporary relevance in order to reflect woke preoccupations lessens the relevance of Shakespeare. The great thing about good literature is that each generation can interpret it freely according to their own understanding.
The freedom to do this rests with the reader and does not have to be forced on us by woke directors using cheap gimmicks. You may chose to see Romeo and Juliet as a parable of modern social decay or you may chose to view it as a parable of love doomed by familial hostility.
The choice should be that of the reader. That’s what Shakespeare intended and to force a woke message into his work is the same as to say “I know better than the author and better than you….I’m smarter than Shakespeare and smarter than you”.
As the Bard himself put it – “cunting is such sweet sorrow”. Or perhaps more apt – ‘How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child!’
https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/whats-on/romeo-and-juliet-2021/?gclid=CjwKCAjw_o-HBhAsEiwANqYhp-riB-3fesL9REsCMDuxM_m07htYS_fixv19b4X7SVSnDB5n_9WoyhoCyCgQAvD_BwE
Nominated by – Marvellous Mechanical Cunting Machine