Review: SHARON ‘N’ BARRY DO ROMEO & JULIET, Queens Theatre Hornchurch

Sharon ‘n’ Barry Do Romeo and Juliet is a production by Queens Theatre Hornchurch for an entirely digital audience. It’s a show that could only ever work in this setting, and work it does.

The premise is based around the titular Sharon (Joanne Seymour) and Barry (David Nellist) who, having exhausted all other entertainment over lockdown, decide to perform Romeo and Juliet with “all the boring bits cut out” over Zoom to help their nephew Alex (ably played by Jack Scannell-Wood) who is currently studying it at school.

There is plenty of comedy and silliness to be had throughout the performance, from the wrong props being delivered, to ill-fitting costumes, and Romeo’s rather splendid wig. Much of Shakespeare’s original text is cut or summarised, allowing the production to zip along at a fair pace. Although we do get introduced to most of the key players from Shakespeare’s version, their parts are often reduced to just a few lines, with highlights including Seymour’s Irish Friar and Nellist’s Nurse, a role he throws himself into with great enjoyment and success. There are some great elements of camera trickery when a few characters are featured in the scene and a fair bit of hat and wig swapping (often in the same scene), as Nellist performs an entire duologue alone, switching between the Nurse and Romeo at pace.

The Douglas Rintoul directed production is set up specifically for a Zoom audience, with the balcony scene a particular triumph, by using a makeshift green screen and the Zoom backgrounds feature; it is very cleverly done and works well. There is an awful lot for the two performers to do in the show but by using staged breaks of character, whether that is them having to check where they are in the script, talk to their audience about their school days, or in Sharon’s case, drink some more wine, they are able to keep the flow of the performance going. 

The best thing about this production, and the thing that makes it work so brilliantly, is the interaction and chemistry between the two actors. They bounce off each other fantastically, with gentle bickering and teasing throughout. There’s a genuine warmth between their interactions with one another, plus their interactions with their Zoom audience of the ‘Zumba girls’ and Barry’s football teammates are genuinely very funny. The characters of Sharon and Barry are both brilliant and would be fabulous characters to see again, whether they were to have their own show or stage another one of Shakespeare’s classic plays.

There is quite a long set up at the outset of the play, although it does give the audience time to settle and allows us a look ‘behind the scenes’ as Sharon and Barry set up their living room for their upcoming performance, which is enjoyable and allows us to get to know the characters before we are properly introduced.

A very enjoyable way to spend your evening and it is well worth catching the production, which is available until 6 March here.

****’ Four and a half stars

Reviewed by: Amy Louise