An amazing spectacle of a show that will delight most.
The story of Romeo and Juliet performed in Kabuki style to the music of Queen. While this sounds like it could be the result of a theatrical game of mad libs, this is a highly accomplished and impressive production written and directed by Hideki Noda. This is a retelling of the story of Romeo and Juliet in a Japanese setting with a twist, what would happen if they both survived?
This production is quite simply awe inspiring in its scale and ambition as a piece of theatre. The choreography by Shigehiro Ide is masterful with around 20 performers on stage at once creating really vibrant scenes filled with energy. The word I keep coming to when talking about this production is how impressive it was. All of the performers gave incredibly energetic performances over the 3-hour run time and all of their intricate performances seemed entirely faultless.
A particular highlight of the show for me is nurse Uba played by Hideki Noda. This is a scene stealing comedic role, but every moment was played to its very best and whenever she came on stage you knew you had to focus on her. Takako Matsu, who played older Juliet, was equally as impressive. She brilliantly played both the comedic and tragic aspects of the story and the sadder moments of the show were held together brilliantly by her performance. The melodramatic nature of the show and direction could have made these more tender tragic moments seem jarring, but Takako Matsu made them very believable and was an absolute highlight for me.
This show opens with incredible energy and powers through some brilliant all cast set-pieces which are genuinely dazzling and had me smiling like a maniac for the first 10 minutes of the show. The set, by Yukio Horio is used to great effect with numerous large revolving doors giving plenty of entrances and exits for the cast and used brilliantly in their inevitable slapstick comedy moments. The second half is noticeably less energetic, with far fewer comedic moments are a much darker tone. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but given the shows’ length, this does make the performance drag and have you checking your watch for when it is going to end. It is perhaps a bit long at 3-hours and could be trimmed down a bit. The final quarter in particular, the darkest part of the show, seems to go on for too long, with repeating motifs and lines. It is a drudgery for the characters, but we get on the cusp of it being a drudgery for the audience as well. This is not to fault any of the performances. All of the performers on stage gave 100% the entire time, bringing melodrama and exaggeration to every movement, but this wasn’t enough to save what was definitely a lull in the script.
The elephant in the room of this production is the music of Queen. This musical aspect is heavily promoted and features heavily in the marketing material, which includes a video message from Brian May endorsing the production, and yet the music seems secondary to almost everything else happening. There are 1 or 2 moments where the fact that it is a recognisable Queen song is detracting rather than adding to the story, and other moments where it adds a pleasing soundtrack to the action, but is in no way a focus. The fact that the music is Queen songs doesn’t add anything to this production, and it would perhaps be just as good, if not better, if they were original instrumental songs not attached to Freddie Mercury. There are some clever uses of sounds, including some snippets from songs acting as sound effects, but ultimately it does little to add to a very impressive production.
Ultimately however, this was a show I greatly enjoyed and could heartily recommend to anyone (as long as you can manage the longer run time). The sheer spectacle on display and brilliant performances from the entire cast mean that most people will be thoroughly entertained for the majority of the show. A Night at the Kabuki is playing at Sadlers Well’s Theatre until 24th September.