Romeo and Juliet
1978: Alvin Rakoff

This play (part of the BBC Shakespeare Plays) is now available to the public, and can be found in the “Tragedy” five-play set from Ambrose Video, and in other formats. Its cast is extremely solid, and in addition to the leads, Patrick Ryecart (Romeo) and Rebecca Saire (Juliet), neither of them very prominent at the time, it includes Michael Hordern (Capulet), John Gielgud (Chorus), Anthony Andrews (Mercutio), and Alan Rickman (Tybalt). Rickman was all but unknown himself at the time, though he has become quite well-known in the interim.

The acting is almost uniformly excellent. Ryecart’s Romeo is less of a spineless milquetoast than most others, and (I think) more appealing on that account, though he brings an occasional severity to the role that some may find unsympathetic. Rebecca Saire (age 15) is somewhat less experienced, obvioiusly, but she is in the right age range for a change, and she brings a genuine freshness to the part. Her diction is not quite as well tuned as that of the veterans, but she is more than adequate. Anthony Andrews’ Mercutio is a genuine stand-out, though I can’t entirely say that I like his portrayal. He brings a rather unsettling jerky delivery to the Queen Mab speech, punctuating it with abrupt little laughs that become wearying long before it’s over. Michael Hordern’s initially comic Capulet, on the other hand, is more finely tuned than might appear on first viewing, and in its turn achieves some real emotional depth; Rickman brings his rich dark voice to a wonderfully malevolent Tybalt, who is perhaps a little less nuanced than one might have wanted to see. The role of the Nurse, one of the great parts for an older actress, is carried with great aplomb by Celia Johnson, a long-time veteran of the English stage who made only a few film appearances, and she is nearly perfect.

As with most of the BBC Shakespeare series, the production values are modest when contrasted with fully cinematic treatments, and here it must be measured against the Cukor, Castellani, and Zeffirelli versions that preceded it. But the sets are less stagey and the art direction less Spartan than many of the others of the series, and I find it eminently watchable. It is as faithful a production as one is likely to see, and complete, or nearly so, into the bargain.

Buy the complete BBC Shakespeare Plays at Amazon. Note that this will require a Region 2 player or a region-free player: it will not play on most normal American DVD players. Nevertheless, the price is so reasonable that even with a region-free player thrown into the deal, you’ll come out ahead.

Buy the BBC Shakespeare Plays Tragedies Giftbox at Amazon. Unlike the complete series, this is in a North American video format, and it includes five plays: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, and Othello.

Buy the complete set of the BBC Shakespeare Plays or individual plays (including this one) in Region 1 format direct from Ambrose Video.