Review: & Juliet at The Bristol Hippodrome
Posted on: 16 Jan 2025Vivienne Kennedy reviews & Juliet, visiting Bristol Hippodrome on its first UK tour until Saturday 25 January 2025.
I go along to The Bristol Hippodrome on a cold January Tuesday, expecting an evening of uplifting fun with some good songs (over 30, all written or co-written by Sweden’s Max Martin). I’m not disappointed in the least, but & Juliet turns out to be so much more than that. I thoroughly enjoy it.
We start in London, where Shakespeare, played by Jay McGuiness, is about to debut a new play, having only just finished it. He thinks it will be a hit. His wife, Anne Hathaway, her part performed by Lara Denning, is on a rare night out away from the kids and thinks the ending is, well, a word beginning with s and rhyming with hit. After an argument in song, with Shakespeare insisting ‘I want it that way’, they agree to rewrite it together and find out what could happen to Juliet if she didn’t die.
We meet Juliet in Verona, but from there the action quickly moves, 600 miles on a pedal-powered Tuk Tuk, to Paris where she, her two best friends (one of whom happens to be Shakespeare’s wife, who has quickly written herself into the play), and her childhood nurse attend a ball where all sorts of love stories will begin.
Without giving too much away, there is nothing tragic about this new version of the story and lots to bring smiles to faces. Empowerment and acceptance, self and otherwise, are the key messages.
The songs, originally sung by artists such as Britney Spears, P!nk, Backstreet Boys, and Katy Perry, slot in seamlessly; the start of Oops!... I Did It Again being particularly perfectly timed! It’s hard to pick favourites, but, if I had to, I would say I’m Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman, sung by Jordan Broatch as May, was my Act One highlight (and their storyline my favourite). In Act Two I am torn between That’s the Way It Is, performed by Anne and Juliet, played by Gerardine Sacdalan, and Roar, which is performed by Juliet and the whole company.
The set, costumes, lighting, and video/animation design all work to create a visual spectacle, with some very clever touches. There is a lot to look at and I feel sure I will spot different things when I see this show again (I am absolutely certain I will see it again, although probably not during this run).
All in all, I heartily recommend & Juliet for a great night out and, judging from the speed with which we all took to our feet when invited to do so for the finale, I think the rest of the audience would agree with me.
My favourite show of 2025 so far, so I have to give it a solid four stars.
& Juliet continues at The Bristol Hippodrome until Saturday 25 January 2025. Get tickets here.
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Vivienne Kennedy says she lives and works in Bristol but sleeps in Weston-super-Mare, which is where she’s actually lived pretty much all her life. During the day, she is Head of Broadmead BID (Business Improvement District), supporting retailers in Bristol Shopping Quarter. Away from work, she’s been reviewing theatre, music and art in Bristol for more than 12 years and is rarely happier than when watching a good show at the Hippodrome or Old Vic.
