Romeo & Juliet review – Verona is a dystopia in trailblazing tragedy

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Sam Tutty and Emily Redpath star in an ambitious new version of Shakespeare's play created with digital wizardry

The warring houses of Montague and Capulet are living in a near future" in this cutting-edge digital production, set in a disturbed world in which rich families and urban gangs have been forced to live, cheek-by-jowl, inside disused theatres. It is a nice touch to a film, by Metcalfe Gordon Productions, which utilises the architecture of an empty auditorium and splices it, ingeniously, with the wizardry of virtual sets.

Ambitious in concept, the film is exciting in its effects but we are never allowed to forget it is theatre, too. The camera sweeps ostentatiously across the stage and captures light falling across the auditorium. In a cameo, Derek Jacobi appears among the empty seats to deliver the prologue. The balcony scene takes place with Romeo on stage, and Juliet in a box seat above.