Undeterred by the gentle rain, a large crowd arrived at Waddesdon Manor, bussed up from the car park, to watch the Lord’s Chamberlain’s Men perform Romeo and Juliet on the lawn in front of this magnificent building. Fortunately, the rain stopped just before the performance began, so no one’s view was blocked by umbrellas.
The ‘show’ began even before the play started with the actors finding all sorts of amusing ways to persuade the audience to buy their programmes (‘In Elizabethan times, the show wouldn’t start until all the programmes are sold!’).The actors are from a company called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, named for the original company for whom Shakespeare wrote most of his plays. In 2004, the present company obtained permission from the Lord Chamberlain to use the name and since then they have been performing Shakespeare’s plays all round the country.Their idea is to recreate as far as possible the plays as they would have been seen in Shakespeare’s time, with an all-male cast, Elizabethan costume, singing and dancing: indeed, this performance started with a very beautiful song sung a cappella by all 7 of the actors before the play begins.
The play is performed in just over 2 hours and, in that time, all 7 of the actors play multiple parts, appearing and disappearing through the 3 doors on the stage (there is of course a balcony too.)The stage itself is an amazing creation, very simple but very effective, especially in this setting as it blended in with the Manor behind it.The acting was superb: all the elements of anger, love, humour were teased out. James Burman made an excellent Romeo, portraying love, passion, compassion and anger with much subtlety. Cameron Percival’s Juliet at the start was a girl with all the enthusiasm and petulance of a fourteen-year-old, who had to grow up too quickly and learn to deceive her irascible father and make adult choices. The Scottish nurse, Craig King, and the foppish County Paris, Lewis Bruniges, provided much of the humour. All the other actors slipped seamlessly in and out of their several characters. What was also impressive was the choreography of the sword-fighting, which was performed faultlessly on that small stage. As the play ended, the singing began again and the audience was treated to yet another beautiful song.
Sadly, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men are coming to the end of their 15-week run of performances which has taken them all over the country to cathedrals, castles, abbeys and stately houses like Waddesdon Manor. They will erect and take down their oh-so-clever stage only 7 more times this season (they can now do this in under an hour apparently) with their last performance at Beaumaris Castle in Wales on 3rd September.
The Lord’s Chamberlain’s Men will be back next year touring with another Shakespeare play- something to look forward to indeed. If you can’t wait, however, you can also hire them for private performances.