Jane Ellis
23/08/03

4 Stars!

This really shouldn’t work, a farmyard version of Romeo and Juliet in which the families are flocks of sheep called the Ramulets and the Mintagewes. But it’s a vibrant romp successfully combining chunks of Shakespeare with songs and riotous humour.
They milk every possible sheepy allusion by the show is far from cheesy. The woolly lovers, speaking mainly real Shakespeare, are scalp touching. Meanwhile the confrontations between the warring flocks are sharp and aggressive. Greg Ashton the Nurse, steals the show as a chicken-cum-panto dame with devastating comic timing. her masterful put-downs keep Eweliet in line “the sooner you start acting like a sheep the better”, she snaps.
The script is dense and witty, much of it flies over younger heads, but it doesn’t spoil their enjoyment. They are well entertained by Mercutio the excitable sheepdog and Flyer Lawrence, the bumbling owl who officiates at the wedding. While the original Juliet was destined to marry Paris, a brilliant twist in this version has Eweliet sent to a farm in Paris. This avoids having to kill her off and makes perfect sense of Shakespeare’s scene of rebellious row with her parents. A deliciously unlikely concoction.

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