JAN MOIR: Hollywood heartthrob Tom Holland doth bring a madman passion to the thousands now clamouring to see him play Romeo in a hoodie...
does the audience appreciate it? Verily! By Jan Moir for the Daily Mail Published: 21:23 EDT, 19 May 2024 | Updated: 21:24 EDT, 19 May 2024 e-mail View comments Oh Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Each night after the curtain comes down on this new production of Romeo & Juliet in London 's West End, hundreds of fans gather at the theatre stage door, clutching thy autograph quills under the inconstant moon, lost in the fever of this unbound love, this tender thing, this madman passion that every evening doth bring. Outside the Duke of York's Theatre they are crammed on to both sides of St Martin's Lane, the narrow street that runs down to Trafalgar Square. 'Tuck in, tuck in,' shouts a security guard in a high-vis vest, trying to keep everyone on the pavement, hoping to keep the traffic moving.
'And when Tom comes out, don't surge forward, OK?' The crowds — which have grown every night since the show opened in preview last week — are here for Tom Holland , the young English actor who is playing Romeo in this boldly austere staging of Shakespeare's most famous tragedy. On a bleak stage bereft of furniture or props, Tom wears neither doublet nor hose, but a hoodie and jeans. Sometimes he slips into a white vest, all the better in which to be drenched with blood or show off his muscles.
And the audience appreciate it, yea verily. To.
