Romeo and Juliet Part 2 - Kemp-Welch

If you only have time to watch one Romeo and Juliet, this would be a good one to watch. Excellent directing. Excellent acting. Even the fights are believable.

Produced by Thames Television in 1976, and directed by Joan Kemp-Welch, this version is as good a Romeo and Juliet as I expect to see. 

I don’t know how old Ann Hasson was in 1976. IMDB.com has no biographical information about her, and if she wants her privacy, that’s fine. She looks to me to have been in her early twenties, but she easily passes as thirteen. If there were a Fantasy Shakespeare League, I would have her on my team to play Juliet. Her performance is excellent. Casting Juliet is a huge problem. For one thing, Shakespeare makes it clear that she’s thirteen years old - almost fourteen - and (at the beginning of the play) thinks of herself as a child. So obviously, you should cast a child actress. But good luck finding one that can play this role! Shakespeare, of course, was writing it for a teenage boy, but that’s neither here nor there. By the end of the play at least, Shakespeare wrote Juliet so that you could believe her to be anywhere from seventeen to twenty-two. I suspect most casting directors look for an actress in her early twenties and hope that the audience will play along and believe that she could be thirteen. Ann Hasson pulled it off. If you want to know how to play Juliet, watch Ann Hasson. 

(By the way, based on her performance in True Grit, I have high hopes for Hailee Steinfeld, who will be seen as Juliet in a Romeo and Juliet scheduled to be in theaters in October 2013. Here’s the trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3520702745/.)

Christopher Neame is a very active Romeo. Unlike Alex Hyde-White, he understood the words coming out of his mouth. He and David Robb (Tybalt) appear in the special features discussing their memories of the production. Apparently they were in school with Robin Nedwell (who kills it as Mercutio) and fight coordinator William Hobbs. 

I also gave to mention the excellent performances of Clive Swift as Friar Lawrence (who you’ll recognize from at least two appearances on Doctor Who) and Patsy Byrne, who is now my Fantasy Shakespeare League Nurse. You’ll recognize her from playing essentially the same character in Blackadder II.

This production currently ranks as my favorite Romeo and Juliet.

Here’s the overall ranking so far:

1. Romeo & Juliet. Dir. Joan Kemp-Welch. Perf. Christopher Neame, Ann Hasson, and Robin Nedwell. Thames Television, 1976. DVD, A&E Television Networks, 2005.
2. Shakespeare Series: Romeo and Juliet. Dir. Larry Sullivan. Perf. Alex Hyde-White, Blanche Baker, and Dan Hamilton. Shakespeare Video Society, 1982. Amazon.com, 15 AUG 2013.