A Wild West reimagining that plays for laughs but stumbles on the road to tragedy.Summary
Rating
Good
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet has been staged so many times that any new production has to work hard to justify its existence. Sean Holmes’ new Wild West reimagining at The Globe manages to do just that, at least for much of its running time. With saloon doors, cowboy hats, and a bluegrass-tinged soundtrack, the concept doesn’t feel forced. Instead, it brings a welcome freshness to a play most of the audience will know inside out.
On the night I attended, the performance began over thirty minutes late, due to a complicated set change following an afternoon performance of The Crucible. It’s a reminder of the Globe’s increasingly busy and ambitious programming, and while frustrating, it is hard not to admire the sheer logistical effort involved in transforming the space so completely. Fortunately, once Romeo and Juliet got going, the energy on stage quickly made up for lost time.
The production’s real strength lies in how alive it makes the text feel. The first half is sharp, funny, and full of vitality, with the audience laughing freely and often. Much of the humour is driven by Jamie-Rose Monk’s gloriously comic Nurse and Michael Elcock’s swaggering Mercutio. Both give richly entertaining performances, full of irreverence and spark, without ever losing touch with the emotional undercurrents of the play. It’s a rare pleasure to hear this much laughter during Romeo and Juliet, and it’s all rooted in the language itself.
Holmes clearly intends Mercutio’s death as the tonal hinge, but the moment itself retains a comic residue that slightly dulls its impact. After the interval, once the sun sets and the sky above the Globe goes dark, a tonal shift towards tragedy is inevitable given the play’s premise. This shift is jarring at first, though credit must go to the production’s musical score, which plays a crucial role in smoothing this transition. The bluegrass-inflected music subtly deepens, introducing more sombre textures that help reorient the audience emotionally.
Still, there’s a sense that the production struggles to fully reconcile its comic and tragic elements. The final image, where the ghosts of the dead reappear, feels like an attempt to underscore the emotional cost, but instead risks blunting it. It’s an idea that makes sense on paper, but in practice, it lightens the moment rather than intensifying it.
That said, there is much to admire. Rawaed Asde and Lola Shalam have lovely chemistry as the doomed lovers, and Holmes’ direction shows a clear respect for and understanding of the text. Almost every moment feels considered. And as always at the Globe, the use of space is superb. Elements are wheeled through the audience, actors speak directly to the crowd, and the sense of shared experience is far more vivid here than in most traditional theatres.
This Romeo and Juliet may not quite hit its darkest, deepest bass notes, but it’s inventive, energetic, and at times genuinely moving. It offers a bold new lens through which to see a well-worn classic and proves that even a 400-year-old play can still surprise us.
Directed by: Sean Holmes
Designed by: Paul Willis
Music by: Grant Olding
Romeo and Juliet plays at the Globe Theatre until Saturday 2 August 2025
