The Estonian National Youth Theatre's reading of Shakespeare's play is largely textually conventional, but the staging is bright, lively and wonderfully inventive. Demarco's courtyard is used to full effect as Indrek Sammul and Katariina Lauk's star-crossed lovers negotiate a gymnastic balcony scene and a wedding night on a bed suspended in mid-air. Language is no barrier: the show's richness and verve carry all before them. A rewritten apotheosis-type ending departs from Shakespeare, but provides a climax in keeping with a captivating evening.
Written for The Independent.
Copyright © Ian Shuttleworth; all rights reserved.
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