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Wherefore art thou, Romeo?
AS SMOKE enveloped the stage at the Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond on Wednesday evening, the actors became almost invisible and the fire alarm cut short the climax of that great romantic tragedy, Romeo and Juliet.
The audience, well aware that the smoke was a stage effect, gave the cast of Northern Broadsides a standing ovation before leaving the theatre.
Within minutes, the cast was huddled in doorways outside trying to shelter from the heavy rain as the fire brigade came and gave the all-clear.
This was the second night that the smoke, created to give a ghostly feel to the grave scene, led to the performance being abandoned. A spokesman for the theatre said they would have no smoke at any of the other performances this week.
The Shakespearean play will be enacted tonight and tomorrow and is well worth seeing (if any tickets are available) as the cast give a truly memorable performance, with the actors playing Romeo and Juliet being especially impressive.
As with the smoke however, there were signs that the cast were more used to presenting plays in bigger theatres compared to the cosy atmosphere at the Georgian.
9:49am Friday 2nd May 2008
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CommentPosted by: Jacquie Bell, East Lothian on 9:46am Sun 4 May 08
The difficulties of stage production.
Some years ago I was in a production of a play called Gosforth's Fete. It ended with a public address system going bang, water all over the place etc in typical farce fashion. Needless to say the smoke alarms in the school where we were performing went off every night with the Fire Engines Turning out on automatic call to the school......
In Musselburgh East Lothian this week there was a dramatic end to a production of Abigail's Party at the Brunton Theatre. In the play character Laurence has a fatal heart attack. On Thursday night the actor playing Laurence had a suspect heart attack near the end - luckily his fellow actors realised that he was really unwell rather than doing an extremely great performance and stopped the show.
The difficulties of stage production.
Some years ago I was in a production of a play called Gosforth's Fete. It ended with a public address system going bang, water all over the place etc in typical farce fashion. Needless to say the smoke alarms in the school where we were performing went off every night with the Fire Engines Turning out on automatic call to the school......
In Musselburgh East Lothian this week there was a dramatic end to a production of Abigail's Party at the Brunton Theatre. In the play character Laurence has a fatal heart attack. On Thursday night the actor playing Laurence had a suspect heart attack near the end - luckily his fellow actors realised that he was really unwell rather than doing an extremely great performance and stopped the show.
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