Super-director Jamie Lloyd is renowned for his powers of celebrity wrangling. But even by his standards this is quite the coup: his production of Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo & Juliet’ will star Tom Holland, aka Spider-Man himself, in his first stage role since a lengthy stint in ‘Billy Elliot’ as a child actor. Although it’s probably fair to say Holland hasn’t really set the world on fire outside of a certain franchise, he remains one of the most famous young actors in the world thanks to his endearing MCU Peter Parker. And let’s be honest, working with Lloyd – who dazzlingly mixes populism and confrontational experimentalism – is liable to result in something a lot better than ‘Uncharted’.
Holland will, of course, be playing Romeo: there’s no word on any other casting, including Juliet, but further celebrities seem unlikely – Lloyd tends to assemble diverse, interesting casts that highlight up-and-coming talent. Stylistically, we can certainly expect a contemporary setting and stripped-back aesthetic, though last year’s peerless ‘Sunset Boulevard’ did see Lloyd get back to his more maximalist roots with its gargantuan video wall and copious use of gore – you’d think a bit of the ol’ claret has to be an option for Lloyd’s take on Shakespeare’s high-ish body-count romantic tragedy.
The production sold out on Holland’s name alone, but he’ll be joined by a cast that includes the relatively unknown Francesca Amewudah-Rivers as Juliet, plus Freema Agyeman (Nurse), Michael Balogun (Friar), Tomiwa Edun (Capulet), Mia Jerome (Montague), Daniel Quinn-Toye (Paris), Ray Sesay (Tybalt), Nima Taleghani (Benvolio), Joshua-Alexander Williams (Mercutio). There are two camera operators in the cast as well (Callum Heinrich and Kody Mortimer) which indicates a similarly video-led design to ‘Sunset Boulevard’.
