ROMEO AND JULIET

English Shakespeare Company

Grand Theatre, Swansea

"In a society that enjoys video games, cinemas and the internet," argues director Malachi Bogdanov, "new ideas need to be explored in order to make theatre contemporary." And Romeo and Juliet is probably one of Shakespeare's most popular plays amongst those seeking to bring Big Willy up to date. Baz Luhrmann's hyper-cool 'Romeo + Juliet' relocated the story to Verona Beach L.A., and proved that contemporary Shakespearean cinema can succeed without the presence of Kenneth Branagh. Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story tackled the problem of the language - which can, allegedly, be a serious turn-off for the younger generation - by rescripting the entire piece (much as Shakespeare did with Arthur Brooke's 1562 poem) and throwing in a bagful of catchy foot-tappers.

Bogdanov's ambitions, however, extend far beyond the stratosphere. With the strapline "Love - the Final Frontier", the English Shakespeare Company's production heads off to a galaxy far, far away. Beneath the skeletal canopy of a silvery geodesic dome, two alien races meet, in a costuming confusion alarmingly reminiscent of early Star Trek. Romeo and his fellow Montagues are hairless aliens, their faces strangely painted and their spidery limbs encased in body-hugging lycra. The Capulets, on the other hand, are humans dressed in Holbein medieval. Except Tybalt (Morgan George), whose padded spacesuit makes him look like a well-lagged hot water tank.

It is against this science fiction background that the action is set. Mercutio (Peter Bailie) and Tybalt battle with what appears to be a vortex cannon. Juliet's tomb is the plexiglass pod more usually used for space travellers in suspended animation. And the balcony scene is staged with Juliet (Louise Breckon-Richards) 20 foot up in the air, perched on a trapeze from which Romeo (Oliver Campbell-Smith) dangles by the ankles like a love-struck bat.

Beneath the glittering sci-fi carapace lies a very mediocre production of Shakespeare's play. The handful of gimmicks may extract giggles from the target audience drawn from the playstation generation, but their attention wanders quickly during the bland, and sometimes incomprehensible, delivery of the lines. Even when a character is given a definite personality, it seems far removed from the person originally scripted. Whilst Oliver Campbell-Smith's performance is amongst the strongest, it does Romeo something of an injustice to portray him as a cross between Mork and C3PO.

Shakespeare can be made perfectly accessible and appealing to any audience which can follow the plot and dialogue of Prime Suspect or Pride and Prejudice. But it takes effort and intelligent analysis, not just a flash of inspiration and some gleanings from last year's hit movie. There is a concept here which could work. But by seeking to be 'experimental', this production appears to equate novelty with enhancement, and relies far too heavily on its progressiveness for its audience appeal. Yet if Shakespeare is not delivered intelligently and intelligibly, all the spinning geodesic domes in the world will not make it better, or more attractive to audiences in the 21^st century.

TOBY O'CONNOR MORSE

Touring to Northampton, Reading, Southampton, Poole and Nottingham.