Review

Romeo and Juliet, Priory Players, Headgate Theatre, Colchester.

This cracking new adaption of Shakespeare's classic tale of star crossed lovers was billed as 'an old tale with a new twist'.

Which is just as clever as Lorraine Haworth's concept in that the twist is the old, to be precise an old people's home where Romeo and Juliet are just one of the residents.

In fact the idea is such genius, it puts a whole new angle on a play, which looks at love, devotion as well as anger, spite and revenge, while keeping Shakespeare's often quotable prose.

Of course it helps to have a good cast, and Lorraine was lucky because her's were simply outstanding from the two leads, Sara Green and Tony Winn, to a brilliant performance by Paul T Davies, who was born to be the Nurse, to Donna Potter's quirky Chaplain Lawrence, Rod Green's mercurial Mercutio, and James Potter's thoroughly bad son-in-law.

As the presence of a son-in-law will attest, Lorraine couldn't keep it completely traditional but the changes make little difference and in fact her prudent shearing of great swathes of the play, made it more urgent and relevant.

That and an appropriately sparse set, letting the acting do the work, and the haunting piano of young musician Izzy Liddamore, I for one cannot wait to see what Lorraine does next with the great Bard's work.

NEIL D'ARCY-JONES