Two hours’ stage traffic becomes one in this modern hip-hop take on Shakespeare, designed for children from Year 5 upwards and set in the Polka’s borough of Merton. Created and directed by Conrad Murray and Lakeisha Lynch-Stevens from Beats & Elements theatre company, it excels when depicting headlong romance and the rival gangs’ combustible grudges.
The script and songs’ use of rhyme often reflects the original play’s rhythms, although precious few of its lines or phrases are incorporated which is a shame as the opening number Star-Crossed Lovers does so with skill. While the storytelling falters in the production’s home straight, this is a dynamic hour that would benefit from audiences’ prior knowledge of the tragedy and provides a stimulating complement to Shakespeare.
Lynch-Stevens and the guitar-strumming Murray each race through several roles and are joined on stage by co-creators Kate Donnachie (Juliet) and Khai Shaw (Romeo). Erin Guan’s set presents two houses, both alike in design, with the names Montague and Capulet in neon. Guan’s costumes include a ruff for Romeo and Adidas tracksuit for Juliet. The audience is divided into opposing teams, each given their own call and response, encouraging a boisterous sporting atmosphere similar to the 7 Fingers’ Shakespearean circus show Duel Reality. It means that, in today’s performance, a couple of pivotal moments are drowned out.
Conrad Murray in Romeo and Juliet. Photograph: Steve Gregson
The adaptation removes a handful of Shakespeare’s characters, leaving the balance male-dominated. The Friar is replaced by Freddy, a community centre manager, who becomes a confidant to Romeo while Juliet loses her sense of companionship (and the play loses some warmth and comedy) as the Nurse is cut out.
Donnachie and Shaw bond and blush beautifully in their teasing first encounter (the chemistry is not fully sustained) and the play acknowledges how teenage relationships blossom online, even if the balcony scene misses a certain something with the pair on FaceTime. A script heavy in slang finds clever modern equivalents for phrases, with “Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?” becoming “Do you kiss your teeth fam?”
The language is often lively while Merton itself never emerges as a vivid location, partly because this is a feud that blows up on social media as well as the streets. Shakespeare’s plot relies on miscommunication including a dodgy postal service; Juliet’s faking her death online makes sense in this modern telling but the obvious flaw, that Romeo would instantly spot it while scrolling, is not fully considered. Such changes reduce the role of fate and the idea that time is out of joint for these two.
The remixed ending lacks poignancy but the story is bolstered by Jonzi D and Simeon Qsyea’s striking movement direction and the persistent beatboxing makes this helter-skelter tragedy throb with tension.
At Polka theatre, London, until 14 April