By the book

The Verona project, part II

Who (how old), when, how long? Christopher Neame (28) and Ann Hasson (looks to have been early 20s, though the fact that her age isn't given either on IMDb or on the minibiography on the DVD suggests that she may have been older), 1976, 3¼hrs.

What sort of R&J? Very Royal Shakespeare Company--like the entire company, the performances are thoroughly competent without ever achieving transport--until III.v, the scene in which Lady Capulet comes to Juliet's chamber right after Romeo has left: from that scene on, Hasson (who mysteriously seems to have done a little TV and nothing else) raises her performance and the production to another level. One interesting element of Neame's early performance is that this Romeo seems cognizant of the fact that his lovelorn sighs for Rosaline are purely conventional--though like a good courtly lover, he follows the conventions faithfully. Oh, he bears an unfortunate resemblance to Malcolm McDowell (Alex and Juliet?); Hasson, for her part, looks a bit like Jennifer Ehle, only with Janeane Garofalo's chipmunk cheeks.

Seriocomic scale for first scene? 4--neither particularly silly nor ominous: worst damage done is when Tybalt stabs as innocent foodselling female bystander in the cheek.

"Wherefore": do the playmakers know what it means? Indubitably: Hasson delivers the speech with conviction.

Carrion flies? Yep.

Body count? The full 6.

What (else) is missing? Scarcely anything is missing; I noticed a few lines at the start of one scene, so doubtless there are handsful dropped here and there, but this is essentially the full text.

What (else) is changed? Nothing significant.

What (else) is odd? It is a distinctly un-odd production. I suppose this category's as good a place as any to observe that Capulet is portrayed as easily the most sympathetic of the adult characters--until he explodes at J's refusal to marry Paris (in that same III.v). That he is so gentle and loving until then, of course, makes his abuse all the more painful for us, as well as further ratcheting up Juliet's already abject grief.

End-of-the-play exposition? Yes, well, there's a downside to including the whole text.

A very pleasant surprise, given that the Netflix average rating is only 2.6 stars; makes me wonder what those people are looking for. (Are they the same people who give the Zeffirelli version an average of 3.7?) It's interesting that this seems to have appeared on British TV just two years before the BBC presented its version in what I like to call its Every Damn Play the Bard Wrote series. But while the leads were fairly obscure, the cast has its share of the Beeb repertory company of the time, including at least two actors who appeared in the exactly contemporary I, Claudius: David Robb (Tybalt here, Germanicus there) and Patsy Byrne (Juliet's Nurse here, the poisoner Martina there); I think I noticed a couple others, but the IMDb cast lists are incomplete.