Romeo & Juliet, Dyke Road Rest Garden, Brighton, May 24
4:58pm Monday 26th May 2008
In the peaceful environs of the Dyke Road Rest Garden, the chorus had barely caught breath before the cast threw themselves from an old campervan and into the play's opening melee.
Marsha Henry was vibrant as Juliet's excitable nurse, comfortably filling the open expanse, and Nitzan Sharron was notable for his bold Mercutio.
Conrad Westmaas did well to balance Lord Capulet and Friar Lawrence, but imbued both with a light-hearted theatricality that didn't quite sit well with either.
Likewise, the camp humour with which Alan Morrissey's Romeo approached the balcony scene drew a lot of laughs, but at the expense of the feverish passion of the exchange.
Morrissey was an enjoyable Romeo though. His and Juliet's first encounter, a beneficiary of the tremendous choreography, was among a number of tender moments in which he and Dominique Bull excelled.
As the humorous colours ran from the play, the skies darkened, the wind picked up and the gravestones that wall the garden stole prominence from the trees. Bull gave a rousing performance of Juliet's morbid monologue, and in the despair of these final scenes, Morrissey too came into his own, best at his wit's end.
Had the rain come early it would have proved an insurmountable distraction. As it was, the setting leant itself dramatically to the company and their impressively inventive production.