Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.\u201cFun\u201d is not the word most readily associated with Shakespeare\u2019s Romeo and Juliet. But there\u2019s a good deal of the stuff to be had in Sean Holmes\u2019 new production for Shakespeare\u2019s Globe. Holmes\u2019 staging, which kicks off the summer season here in exuberant style, is set in the Wild West.The machismo is riding high; the rivalries fester and seethe; the women wear gingham; the men sport Stetsons and cowboy boots. Characters burst through the saloon doors at the centre of Paul Wills\u2019 set to swagger, brawl or lay down the law, the formal line dancing at the Capulets\u2019 ball is turned into a sweaty, sexy hoedown by the gatecrashing Romeo and buddies (to music provided by a fabulous bluegrass band), and the story smoulders with heat, dust and energy.But the potential for violence simmers constantly beneath the jaunty atmosphere. A streak of blood down the wooden wall at the back of the stage bears testimony to the grim impact of all the fighting talk and Dharmesh Patel\u2019s prince (a starchy sheriff here) is clearly exasperated by the bloodshed. The show is permeated by the senseless waste of life common to so many Westerns, where men face off under the beating sun, knives quickly give way to guns, and bodies regularly litter the saloon floor.In the face of all this, the haste of Romeo and Juliet\u2019s romance makes sense \u2014 life is short and uncertain \u2014 and feels like an act of defiance. The hope of Jamie-Rose Monk\u2019s earthy, affectionate nurse and John Lightbody\u2019s stressed friar that the lovers\u2019 union might forge peace is understandable, if ill-founded. Both have clearly witnessed enough death.You become keenly aware of the youth of Rawaed Asde\u2019s cheekily charming Romeo and Lola Shalam\u2019s feisty, forthright Juliet \u2014 impulsive teenagers trapped in a small frontier town, keen to experience life, love and sex. Shalam\u2019s Juliet, in particular, strains at her leash and is clearly closer to her salty, sensible nurse than to her distant, formally attired mother. The balcony scene is played partly for laughs, with Juliet pushed on a mobile platform through the crowd, urging the ushers to get her closer to Romeo. But there\u2019s a sweetness to the encounter: two exceedingly young people attempting to express their surging feelings fittingly.Holmes is good at comedy in this space and uses that experience well here \u2014 Michael Elcock\u2019s playful, rash Mercutio flirts with the crowd, Romeo hides himself among them. That sometimes comes at a cost, however. Holmes could afford to let some later scenes breathe for longer: the ending \u2014 Juliet\u2019s death in particular \u2014 feels rushed and sometimes the comedy unbalances the play.But there are also some wonderful ideas here. Character speak their final lines just after they have been killed, staring in numb dismay, as if shocked by the sudden reality of death. They all return too at the end as sober reminders of what has been lost to this mindless feud. And, for all its breezy comic flair, this production potently brings to the fore the stark tragedy that five vibrant young human beings have lost their lives over a few days, each snuffed out in an instant.\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606To August 2, shakespearesglobe.com\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.\u201cFun\u201d is not the word most readily associated with Shakespeare\u2019s Romeo and Juliet. But there\u2019s a good deal of the stuff to be had in Sean<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":303302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-303301","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303301"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":303303,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303301\/revisions\/303303"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}