Romeo and Julie  

Dorfman Theatre, London

★★★★

24th March 2023

Set in modern day Cardiff, this touching re-imagining of the Bard’s star-crossed lovers tackles difficult themes with sensitivity.

In this captivating take on Shakespeare’s doomed lovers, Gary Owen and Rachel O’Riordan invert the meet-cute. The original’s titular pair, “both alike in dignity”, first set eyes on each other at a lavish Capulet party. Here, a working class Romeo (Callum Scott Howells) and Julie (Rosie Sheehy) meet in a café in Splott, where Romeo is passed out at the table, exhausted by the challenges of single parenthood. Julie is looking for a quiet place to study and has an ambition to read Physics at Cambridge University. This one scene clearly establishes some of the play’s major themes: parental responsibility, social mobility and, of course, young love.

Howells and Sheehy are excellent as the titular couple, their playful banter crackling with a natural chemistry that has us rooting for their romance. Sheehy especially sparkles, endowing Julie with a cool and endearing self-assuredness as she holds her own throughout the burgeoning relationship. 

It’s an energetic production, with the full ensemble involved in choreographed scene shifts. They weave between each other on stage, representing their lives becoming increasingly intertwined as a result of the central pair’s connection. Suspended above them, Hayley Grindle’s shooting stars light up the semi-darkness to remind us that destiny has a different plan for them.

Romeo is a committed father who strives to do his best for his baby daughter Niamh, and it’s refreshing to see a sympathetic depiction of single fatherhood, something that is rarely explored in theatre or television, particularly within a working class context. The theme of parental responsibility is also explored through Romeo’s mother Barb (Catrin Aaron). She is determined that Romeo will take full responsibility for Niamh’s childcare as she has already raised her own son, but her problematic relationship with alcohol means Romeo must look after her too. 

Aaron is outstanding as the acerbic and brutally honest Barb, bringing some of the play’s biggest laughs. When Barb comes home inebriated, Aaron captures the shame of addiction, an almost child-like denial of wrongdoing in her wails as she downplays her drunkenness. Considering Aaron’s heartbreaking portrayal of alcoholism, it’s slightly disappointing that there’s no resolution for her. After this seemingly pivotal scene, later references to her drinking (“if it’s there, I drink it”) are simply laughed off. When the play mostly treats alcohol addiction with the seriousness it deserves, it’s confusing that it becomes the punchline of Barb’s jokes towards the end. 

But then, maybe that’s the point. One of the play’s major themes is how poverty can trap people in distressing cycles. Julie’s adoptive mum Kath (Anita Reynolds) describes how her underpaid care work is gradually chipping away at the “best part of [her]”, and while the monologue could have delved deeper into the exploitative nature of the care home owners, it adds urgency to Julie’s Cambridge opportunity. She has a chance to free herself from the restrictions her parents, Barb, and Romeo face, even if that means leaving her first love behind. 

The difficulty of this decision plays out painfully and honestly, capturing the all-consuming intensity of young love. Moreover, despite her undeniable intelligence, Julie questions her place at Cambridge due to her state education, therefore the play is also realistic about the psychological impact our socio-economic backgrounds can have on us, influencing our decisions, our self-esteem, and our futures.