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Romeo, Romeo...

I am now living in a post Romeo & Juliet world. It might well be the only time I get to see it, but honestly what I saw on Saturday is going to stay with me forever. I wanted to put it down into words - my review of this play.

The first part of the experience is the music. We were in the bar and this repetitive rumble sound played over the tannoy, signalling that we were being called to Verona. We took our seats and we waited, all while more and more haze appeared across the sparsely-set stage and the music bore deep into my soul, gnarling and industrial, giving a sense of dystopian doom and foreboding. By the time the lights went out and the video screen showed 1597 in bright red lettering, I was already feeling a nervous nausea and an elevated heart rate.

This play is asking you to pretend, as much as they are. There is no set. There are no props. The actors stand like statues, dotted around, sometimes deep into the back of the stage as if ghostly apparitions. Sometimes the actors talk freely, other times they take their place behind mic stands as if part of a debating society. What happens on stage is coupled with video footage of other actors scattered around the bowels of the theatre, in the narrow backstage corridors, or even the theatre bar (and, of course, the roof). The fourth-wall breaks that often punctuate the end of these short video pieces eally pierce into your soul, looming over you, much like the mood of this whole production.

An example - as Mercutio lay dying, the camera is right in his face so you get the full pain and rage of him as he screams "a plague upon both your houses" and takes his final breaths. All the while, Romeo stands metres away, covered in blood, seething with unbridled rage, tears mixing with the blood of his friend.

The interval moment that follows literally made everyone gasp, a jumpscare that absolutely warrants the gravity of the moment. I won't say more because if there's even a 0.1% chance of you seeing it I don't want it ruined.

The second act of this play is decidedly quieter than the first. Clandestine conversations, whispers between characters, the comedy, gone. The deaths of Thibault and Mercutio loom large as the reality of the consequences kick in. Juliet remains defiant to the last - this is a Juliet who really knows what she wants (supported by Nurse, who is more like an older sister character full of kindness and friendly age-appropriate advice). As the end draws near, and the inevitability of what's about to happen (let's face it, we've all studied it at school, we know what happens!) becomes apparent, the silence in the theatre speaks volumes.

This production challenges you to see the traditional story through a far darker lens, and the blank spaces leave room for the oppressive mood and music to thrive and grow. It asks you to find answers in the quiet as much as the loud. It might be the best known love story of all time but the added weight of the staging proves everything hangs on the final line: "For never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo."

Now. Acting. And oh boy was there acting. I'm going to start with Mercutio (Joshua-Alexander Williams) and Paris (Daniel Quinn-Toye) - two actors who are in their first professional production. What pressure, and how they dealt with it. Particularly Joshua-Alexander! I thought Tomiwa Edun, who played Capulet, Juliet's father, was immense - so sinister in his delivery, he had me convinced he was head of a family and of a gang empire. And Freema Agyeman as Nurse was wonderful, as I said earlier, giving this big sister energy and providing delighful lighter moments against the shade. HUGE mention to Nima Taleghani who not only was an excellent Benvolio but also edited the original text to make it a 1hr 45 version that was powerful and punchy.

Now, our main stars. Francesca Amewudah-Rivers as Juliet was incredible. She was headstrong, she was poised, she was dynamic and still at the same time. She portrayed a Juliet desperate to be free from the confines of her family, but clear that she knew what she wanted from the love (and escape) she sought. The second act belonged to her, her stillness lingering.

And the reason I fought for a ticket, Tom Holland. I've seen him at film premieres and press events, and twice playing golf, but the opportunity to see him do what (as fans) we all know to be his true calling, was irresistible. And oh my God. Honestly I was blown away by his portrayal. Brooding, emotional, at times so quiet you had to strain to hear his lament. And then rage, euphoria, shyness, a fumbling lovesick idiot. Throughout the production he provides so much range, but also so much depth, it's impossible not to feel everything he does.

To see him, clearly in his element, providing a soul to Romeo that I've never felt before - I couldn't be prouder as a fan. For too long he has been tarred with the brush that he is not a "serious actor". As fans we know that The Devil all the Time, Cherry, and The Crowded Room are proof otherwise. This should be the moment the world realises he is INCREDIBLE, to be taken seriously, to be given the respect he is long overdue.

I wish beyond words that I get to see this play again. I hope at the very least it gets an NT live screening so that fans around the world get to witness this amazing, unique, innovative production.

Violent delights indeed have violent ends.

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Hey everyone!!

It’s been a while hehe. Guess I’ll be here a bit more of the bird app goes kaput!

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Peter being extremely focused

SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME (2021) dir. Jon Watts

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Some guy wearing the inside out spider-man suit. I’ve no idea who he is but he’s pretty so I drew him 🤣

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Confessional time

I’m writing this here not for clicks or hits, just because I feel like it’ll be good for me, mentally/emotionally, to put it out there, into the atmosphere as a tangible thing rather than just my own thoughts. 

I’ve been undergoing a bit of counselling (first time for everything), and I have to say after initial reservations about how in the heck it was going to work, it’s starting to become clearer with every session. 

Each week I speak to my counsellor, she stops the conversation at a really pertinent moment, asking me to think upon what’s been said at that point, and then I spend a week stewing on it. Which might sound bad, but it’s actually good because it’s the stewing on that point that makes me see it in a broader sense; how it applies to all of my life rather than the specific example I might have given at the time of saying it. 

Anyway, I’m discovering more about myself than I ever realised, and in its way it does feel like a form of healing. Because I’m starting to think in a way that’s TRULY kinder to myself. I’m giving myself more. And by that I mean time, effort, and dare I say a little love and care. I’ve treated myself to things that I would never have done before. I’m making the effort to get up at the crack of dawn to go skating because I want to improve, and because I deserve to - but that involves me putting in some more hours, and I’m giving myself that time. 

I’m also feeling far less apologetic about my art. I draw Tom Holland ALL THE TIME right now, with a dusting of Cumberbatch in there too (because OG love never dies), and I used to be embarrassed about that. I used to think people would think i was obsessed, and weird, and a one-trick pony. 

But you know what? I am going to own it. Yes I’m obsessed. Yes I’m a bit weird. No, I don’t care. And I know in my heart I’m not a one-trick pony. I could draw anything - I just choose to focus on the things that bring me joy. I don’t draw for others, I draw for ME. 

The next step in this new journey is being braver - I’ve spent a lifetime living in the safest manner possible, never doing anything other than what’s been expected of me. Never straying from the boundaries that I’ve built around me all my life for fear of failure OR success. It’s going to take time to find the courage to break free of that. But for the first time, it feels like I might actually get there. I might be able to set tangible goals, own my own dreams, and actually see if there is more potential within. I feel hopeful, dare I say.

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Okay no one on Tumblr that I’ve seen has been talking about the wine and cheese thing, but that means no one is reflecting on the absolute weapons-grade hilarity of Boris Johnson trying to inchworm his way out of trouble by claiming that he didn’t know about it

Like… that wine and cheese party was the Downing Street works Christmas do. Not just any old social, the Christmas social. There were invitations. There was music. Every single worker in Downing Street was invited, even Debbie from accounts. People who didn’t work there but were important to the government got invited.

And Boris is therefore claiming that all his mates got together and had a party and DIDN’T INVITE HIM.

Not only that, but they deliberately kept it a secret from him, because no one wanted him there to ruin the party because no one likes him, and I just…

The key difference between Johnson and Trump always came down to this: Johnson wants to be liked. He genuinely does. Trump wanted to be respected and feared and obeyed, he wanted to be seen as powerful and suave and cool. But he didn’t care about how liked he was. Johnson, though, really fucking does. He’s a deeply pathetic little twat, and he wants people to like him.

So, his choices currently are

Tell everyone in the country that his own friends and coworkers actually cannot stand him, to the point that they arranged an entire Christmas party without him

Admit that he was there and immediately be hated by literally every single human being in the country, including his own voters (hello North Shropshire), because while the rest of us spent Christmas 2020 in a lockdown and unable to see each other and in many cases literally alone, him and his mates held an illegal Christmas party that the police are refusing to investigate

His popularity is now nosediving in the polls, and it really cannot be stated how much that will be burning him.

Also, pro-Brexit Tories are even pissed off with him now. Which is a bit like someone buying a cake called a pus cake with pictures of pus all over the box and a warning sign that says This Cake Contains Pus and Other Bodily Fluids, and then crying because when they tried to eat the pus cake they found it was filled with pus. But also really funny.

Anyway, I’m placing the bet now: we will see a vote of no confidence, OR he’ll jump before he has to experience that (because it would kill him), and our next PM will be Rishi Sunak

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Pray for Tonga 😭

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In my feels right now

“I love you guys” - (2021)

Them.

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Yay nice to see my art being shared (third one) :) merry Christmas one and all!!

In my PeterMJ feels. x x x

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Before anyone asks my opinion on this Tom Holland pointing out that Martin Scorcese is not the gatekeeper of what can and can't be deemed cinema or art is that Tom Holland is correct and that as iconic as he is, Martin Scorcese is not the gatekeeper of what can and can't be deemed cinema or art.

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A little lunchtime trippy Spidey art ahead of the premiere tonight. Excitement levels have reached peak!

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Art.

Films watched in 2021.

341: The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion, 2021)

★★★★★★★☆☆☆

“Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.”

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😍😍😍

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20% off EVERYTHING in my Etsy Shop Nov 29th - Dec 12th. I even added a new print! Oooooooooooooo…..I’m excited!

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I feel this on a deep level.

My life consists of seeing pictures of Tom Holland, seeing what he's wearing, and wishing I owned the outfit

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Digital painting by me, of a lovely moment between our Peter and MJ 🥰

Draw time: 4 hours