{"id":507515,"date":"2026-04-01T18:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T18:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/507515\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T18:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T18:21:09","slug":"sadie-sink-noah-jupe-deliver-gut-punch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/507515\/","title":{"rendered":"Sadie Sink, Noah Jupe Deliver Gut-Punch"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIn Robert Icke\u2019s take on William Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cRomeo & Juliet,\u201d the play\u2019s star-crossed lovers \u2014 played here by \u201cHamnet\u201d breakout Noah Jupe<\/a> and \u201cStranger Things\u201d star Sadie Sink<\/a> \u2014 are running against the clock. <\/p>\n

\n\tLiterally. The show\u2019s set, designed by Hildegard Bechtler, centers around a panel which features \u2014 in bright, yellow lettering \u2014 the day and time, taking the audience from Sunday morning to Wednesday evening, when Romeo and Juliet take their final breaths. It\u2019s a stark reminder of the rapid pace at which the tragedy unfolds, and it\u2019s been done before, including in Icke\u2019s recent adaptation of \u201cOedipus.\u201d But this time Icke pushes this device even further to pose a daring question: What if it didn\u2019t have to end this way?<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom the start, it\u2019s clear that this \u201cRomeo & Juliet\u201d will be different. Icke, no stranger to bold reinterpretations of theater classics from Aeschylus to Ibsen, opts out of Shakespeare\u2019s famous prologue (\u201cTwo households, both alike in dignity\u2026\u201d) and instead opens with Sink\u2019s Juliet sound asleep in a white-sheeted bed, which becomes the play\u2019s other central set piece. The first scene, in which a fight breaks out between the Montague and Capulet servants, takes place around her, and it becomes apparent that it\u2019s meant to be a dream when the two opposing sides begin to embrace. It\u2019s the first of many subversions to the story\u2019s traditional staging, bolstered by contemporary dress (costumes also by Bechtler) and the occasional reggae music in the background (from sound designer Giles Thomas), which nearly evoke Baz Luhrmann\u2019s 1996 film version.<\/p>\n

\n\tThough Juliet is still sound asleep, we\u2019re introduced to Romeo when Dylan Corbett-Bader\u2019s dopey Benvolio pulls up the covers on the other side, revealing Jupe in nothing but his boxers. As Romeo paces around the room, throwing on pieces of clothing \u2014 a black tank and trousers \u2013 he expresses his desire for Rosaline, revealing a boyish, innocent yearning that\u2019s reminiscent of the young Leonardo DiCaprio. Perhaps it\u2019s because we just saw him as Hamlet in Chlo\u00e9 Zhao\u2019s Oscar-nominated \u201cHamnet,\u201d but Shakespeare\u2019s words roll off Jupe\u2019s tongue like a second language \u2014 he was born for this.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe audience then gets the first taste of Icke\u2019s time-bending twist to the play. As Juliet\u2019s father (a stern but measured Clark Gregg) hands servant Peter (Jamie Ankrah) the guest list for that night\u2019s feast, a bright white light flashes and the room goes dark, accompanied by the sound of a power surge. It\u2019s jarring and disorienting. When the light comes back on, the clock has gone backwards and we see a glimpse of a parallel universe where Capulet instead hands the list of names to the Nurse (a delightful Clare Perkins). This way, Romeo and Juliet would have never met, and perhaps they could have both avoided untimely deaths. But it was not to be, and the scene resets again with Peter proceeding to unknowingly invite his house\u2019s enemies to break bread that night.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen Sink\u2019s Juliet finally rises, she is full of teen angst. Besides sleeping in until 2 p.m., she rolls her eyes at the idea of marrying Paris (Lewis Shepherd) and reluctantly readies herself for the party. Keeping her American accent, Sink\u2019s Shakespearen cadence does not emanate as naturally, but her earnest delivery and flailing hand gestures deliver an awkward, uncertain, truly young Juliet that is not often seen. When she finally meets Romeo \u2014 which is, once again, interrupted by a flashing light showing a scene in which he brushes past her \u2014 things turn electric. Sink and Jupe\u2019s chemistry is palpable, and their first kiss is slow and sweet, with Sink\u2019s face blushing a blazing red. The balcony scene is a highlight as the duo infuse it with the fumbling comedy of first love \u2014 Sink\u2019s Juliet hides her face into her pillow with embarrassment, Jupe\u2019s Romeo does a victory dance when she says he can stay a while longer, and they both exchange sheepish last glances as they reluctantly part ways.<\/p>\n

\n\tAll of this makes it more painful when things start to go awry. The staging of their wedding on Monday is immediately juxtaposed with the deaths of Mercutio (played flamboyantly, and with a penchant for mooning, by Kasper Hilton-Hille) and Tybalt (Aruna Jalloh). Romeo delivers his \u201cI am banished\u201d monologue on the bed side-by-side with Juliet, who pledges her allegiance to Romeo as a cover of the Boomtown Rats\u2019 \u201cI Don\u2019t Like Mondays\u201d plays suddenly. It\u2019s an odd choice that closes the show\u2019s first act on a lackluster note \u2014 almost making light of what\u2019s to come. <\/p>\n

\n\tFortunately, the play\u2019s second act packs a gut-punch that almost makes one forget about the discordant way the first ended. As the drama and urgency of the situation ramps up, Sink begins to really shine. Gone is the fumbling little girl of before, replaced by a woman full of anger and ready to take her own life to prove her love. Though the light-flashing, time-bending scenes are still jarring and perhaps heavy-handed, they become more distressing. What if the false poison Juliet drinks hadn\u2019t worked? What if Friar John (Hilton-Hille again) had been able to deliver Friar Laurence\u2019s (John Marquez) plan to Romeo?<\/p>\n

\n\tBut nothing can prepare one for Icke\u2019s ending to this tragic tale. Everyone knows what happens \u2014 believing Juliet to be dead, Romeo takes actual poison and kills himself, causing Juliet to stab herself to death after waking up next to her lover\u2019s lifeless corpse. This time, just as Juliet is about to end her life, a child appears; the younger version of herself. The child dances around Juliet\u2019s tomb as Adrianne Lenker\u2019s devastatingly beautiful \u201cNot a Lot, Just Forever\u201d rings out. What unfurls is a \u201cLa La Land\u201d-esque exploration of what could have been. Romeo leaps to his feet and embraces Juliet, both of them saved; Juliet-as-an-old-woman appears and dances with Romeo as an older Romeo does the same with Juliet; Romeo and Juliet dote over a baby that will never be born. But just as quickly as the sequence comes out of nowhere, it disappears. A timer rings out, and Juliet finishes what she started as the stage goes black.<\/p>\n

\n\tThough some will undoubtedly be averse to Icke\u2019s inventive staging here, for anyone who has ever waxed existential about the passage of time, it puts a new spin on an old tale that reminds us just how awfully tragic it all is. As it so often goes with young love, despite best efforts and thousands of \u201cwhat ifs,\u201d some fates are just written in the stars \u2014 and no one can stop the clock.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Robert Icke\u2019s take on William Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cRomeo & Juliet,\u201d the play\u2019s star-crossed lovers \u2014 played here by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507516,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,47721,177923,29051,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-507515","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-gb","10":"tag-noah-jupe","11":"tag-romeo-juliet","12":"tag-sadie-sink","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}