BMH Productions, who kick off Oxford Castle and Prison’s annual Summer Shakespeare season this week with Troilus and Cressida and Romeo and Juliet, continue their tradition of producing one hour adaptations of Shakespeare with two tales of star-crossed lovers, not quite alike in dignity.
We began with Troilus and Cressida, Shakespeare’s spin on classic Greek myth. It’s known as one of Shakespeare’s ‘problem plays’ - works that don’t easily slot into either the sunny romantic comedies or tense, foreboding tragedies he so excelled in writing. Instead, the play's tone swings between the bawdy and somber. Luckily, BMH’s production manages to blend out the humour and darkness into a sort of neutral middle tone.
While Troilus and Cressida are its namesake, the majority of the story focuses on the war surrounding them, as Priam, King of Troy’s children vie for glory, colluding and conflicting in a sort of proto-Succession, and Agamemnon, leader of the Greek forces, tries to convince esteemed warrior Achilles to battle the powerful Trojan Prince Hector. Troilus is also a Trojan Prince, though his skill as a warrior is greatly overshadowed by his more zealous and accomplished siblings.
His story revolves around his love affair with Cressida, a Trojan whose father has defected to the Greeks. Initially, the two fall into a tentative yet deeply felt love, but when Cressida is exchanged to the Greeks for a Trojan prisoner of war, their love is threatened by the bold and bullish Greek Prince Diomedes.
The final thread tying this piece together is the parallel love story between Achilles and his childhood friend-turned-inseparable companion Patroclus, whose love is complicated by social norms and duties, to tragic results.
Ultimately with so many plates spinning, the piece feels somewhat rushed, told in a little over an hour onstage. It’s a real ensemble work and the audience could have used time to bond with the characters further before they meet their various fates. Even the full play is something of a fragment, a snapshot of a moment towards the end of the Trojan War. While engaging throughout thanks to the good acting and beautiful, creative costuming, it felt a bit flat and educational at times, as if this group was simply tasked with enacting the scenes. It lacked the meaning and urgency of a truly profound story.
As mentioned above, the acting is satisfying. As Troilus, Douglas Spafford brings a boyish wanness that recalls an early-Michael Cera. This is sweetly matched by Grace Boag-Matthew’s Cressida, who plays her as thoughtful and composed. Their love story plays out in a minor key, a sort of ancient Greek 500 Days of Summer. Angus Fraser steals the show as Cressida’s ribald uncle Pandarus (it can be a real challenge to make Shakespeare’s bawdy lines genuinely funny to modern ears and yet Fraser succeeds). Rinre Grace Olusola as Diomedes, meanwhile, does a lot with a small but pivotal role, and Ellen Publicover’s Cassandra has an ethereal yet frantic melancholy. Furthermore Kate Nunn positively glows with vicious ambition as Hector and Joshua Varty perfectly captures Achilles' hot temper and warm heart.
After a 20 minute interval, we were treated to our second show of the night, Romeo and Juliet. This was where the real magic began. The bouncy Italian soundtrack and stylish, modern costumes, and (delightfully) Juliet’s two gay dads helped bring a fresh energy, but it was the abridgement that truly illuminated the story. Having seen several productions I am quite familiar with the play, and I was impressed with the way it was trimmed. Instead of cutting any major arcs or characters, it was as though BMH simply pruned everything unnecessary, scene by scene.
I have to somewhat boldly disagree with the director, whose programme intro compared the two two love stories and concluded that while Troilus and Cressida’s love is youthfully unsure, Romeo and Juliet’s is more mature, deep and passionate. In viewing, I felt as if the opposite was true, and this worked greatly to the play’s benefit. While Troilus and Cressida are measured and cautious with their feelings, both Joe O’Connor’s Romeo and
Jessica Sexton’s Juliet are deeply soppy, dweeby and teenage in their love. You can wholeheartedly believe that these are two overly sincere teenagers blinded by the power of first love. It helps that the actors have absurdly good chemistry (wisely, they play a similarly loved-up Paris and Helen in the other half of the production). After Tybalt’s death, the Nurse (a wonderful Nicola Jones) seems genuinely disappointed in Juliet for caring far more about Romeo’s banishment than her own cousin’s demise. It brilliantly highlights a teenager’s myopic worldview in a way I’ve never seen the scene portrayed before.
It’s always been a sticking point of Romeo and Juliet for me, that the audience is expected to see their love as earth-shatteringly deep when they know each other for less than a week. The direction here clarifies that point: it feels life-changingly deep to them. It’s an ode to first love in all its irrationality and the real tragedy of the play is that senseless violence and bitterness robs two youths of their lives. They should have had the chance to experience reckless, all consuming first love, as we all should.
Some actors have a talent for tinting every line with humor, while Jessica Sexton as Juliet could be said to have the opposite gift: everything she touches turns sincere. She delivers Juliet’s lines with a naturalism that makes them sound effortless, and brings a compelling radiance to the role. O’Connor’s Romeo, meanwhile, comes off as an overly emotional but deeply lovable goofball. James Shaw’s Friar Lawrence perfectly conveys paternal exasperation and concern, while James McDougall’s Lord Capulet is fantastically fully rounded and convincing. Huge shout out as well to Jessica Reilly and Kate O’Connor, who both stepped in due to cast illness to cover roles across the two plays. Had we not been told beforehand, I wouldn’t have guessed they were last-minute additions. Joshua Varty, who typically plays Benvolio, heroically stepped up to fill Mercutio’s intimidating shoes, and did an impressive job.
Finally, Catherine Wooley’s costume design delighted me throughout, from the eye catching metal breastplates, flowing fabrics and bursts of teal and gold in the first piece, to the contrasting wardrobes of the Montagues and Capulets (the latter dressed in slick blacks and silvers, while the former's was in sunny, earthy tones) and unique, patrician uniform’s of Verona’s royalty. Modern clothing in a Shakespeare play can be a cop-out, but here it was anything but.
The company was also thoughtful enough to offer blankets to rent as the sun started to go down, and sell hot chocolate in the intermission. Ultimately, it was a truly satisfying and entertaining night of Summer theatre and I’m glad not to have missed it.