& Juliet

HIGH EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Dramatic Premise

It’s Elizabethan England and popular playwright, Will Shakespeare, is about to produce his romantic tragedy, Romeo & Juliet.

But, suddenly, his wife, Anne, intrudes upon the scene!

Why is Romeo so lame? And why isn’t Juliet the lead character in her own life? Why does she have so little agency?

So, now it’s a competition! Can Anne write a better play than her illustrious husband?

What if Juliet survived? What if the end of Romeo was only the beginning of Juliet’s story?

Can the (young) female character who has, for five centuries, inspired countless tales of loving devotion, inspire a story of female empowerment and inclusion?

The Moment

Juliet sits with her back against Romeo’s funeral alter.

Her eyes are mournful. Our hearts ache for her. She has just lost the all-consuming love of her young life.

The sound of her still beating heart fills the theatre.

Now Juliet places her headphones over her ears and presses ‘play’ on her device…

I was uncertain what to expect from & Juliet, but this is the moment – early in Act 1 – when this production reaches out, seizes onto my shirt with two hands and gives me a vigorous shake.

The dramatic “what if…?” premise posed in the opening scenes has already sparked my interest.

But now, as Juliet belts out Baby One More Time, I’m tapping my feet against the floor, as much to the rhythm of my heart as to the rhythm of the music.

Now I’m all in! I’m there for all of it! What will happen to this star-crossed lover? Without her Romeo, what future lays in her path? What will become of her?

The Millennial Jukebox

As an unashamed child of the 80’s, I harboured some concerns about whether I’d connect with the music.

I need not have worried.

With a soundtrack featuring Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry, the Backstreet Boys and other contemporaries, most of the songs were familiar. Remarkably, all the songs were written by one man, Swede Max Martin. I tip my hat, Max!

But, at the end of the musical daze, the songs are secondary to an uplifting story of a woman who escapes the tyranny of being the second name in a couplet, to being a woman of self-determined autonomy. An individual with agency, power and choices.

For more information on the Australian tour of & Juliet:

& Juliet | Now playing at the Sydney Lyric Theatre!