BARD IN THE BOTANICS FESTIVAL, GLASGOW – UNTIL 2 AUGUST 2025
REVIEWED BY RACHEL FARRIER
4****
Bard in the Botanics is an annual festival of theatre in Glasgow’s beautiful Botanic Gardens and this production of Romeo and Juliet is one of four plays this season. The director Gordon Barr explains in his programme notes that he has returned to Romeo and Juliet many times over the years and has directed it in a wide variety of styles and periods, and this production, set in an edgy, urban, present day, is a rich interpretation. Glasgow is sadly no stranger to gang feuds and warfare, and the timeless tale of two feuding families (and associates) slots perfectly into this conception of the play.
Heather Grace Currie’s building site set seems to be an intentionally uncomfortable and grim setting for the world’s most famous love story. With a cast of just five actors and limited ability to change the tiny set and stage, the production spills off the stage and into the gardens and amongst the audience which is both a necessity and a wonderful trick to draw the crowd into this familiar story.
Lola Aluko is a joyful and energetic Juliet and brings a sweet youthfulness to the role. I had forgotten that Juliet is only sixteen years old, and Aluko’s headstrong intensity is rightly tempered with a teenage naivety which is not-so-much the case with Sam Stopford’s seemingly older and more ‘experienced’ Romeo. Gordon Barr’s production does not shy away from the ruthlessly controlling nature of Juliet’s father Capulet (Bailey Newsome) and the scenes in which he insists upon her marriage to Paris are violent yet uncomfortably believable.
With such a small cast, every actor plays a multitude of roles and in my view, Newsome and Star Penders steal the show between them, playing nearly all the key roles beyond the titular. Newsome’s Mercutio is the terrifying combination of exceptional (Glaswegian) wit and fury, and as described above, he also brings an unmistakable intensity and violence to Capulet. Penders is the perfect Nurse: indulgent, bawdy, wise and heartbroken by turn, and her loyal and (relatively) even tempered Benvolio provides the necessary contrast to Romeo’s wilful impulsivity.
Benjamin Keachie’s Tybalt has all the energy of a young gang member: fearsome, ruthless and entirely unforgiving. The fight scene which brings about the demise of both Tybalt and Mercutio is as hot blooded and vicious as any I have seen before, and fight director Robin Hellier deserves serious credit for this scene.
The dramatic and heart rending final part of the last scene was staged on the floor of the stage and was therefore unfortunately almost entirely out of view from where I was sitting and I would guess that this was case for many in the audience, apart from those seated on the ground or right at the front. However, this did not take away from an overall excellent production, the context of which was sadly far too familiar.