In focus: Michael Bogdanov 1986

In Bogdanov's bold modern-dress production, the Capulets and Montagues wore designer clothes, Tybalt drove a red sports car and Romeo committed suicide using a hypodermic needle.

A young man holds the hand of a young woman as they sit on some steps — Juliet (Niamh Cusack) and Romeo (Sean Bean), 1986, Royal Shakespeare Theatre
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YUPPIE LOVE

Michael Bogdanov's highly political production satirised the 1980s 'yuppie' lifestyle. In this world, children could be regarded as another commodity - wealth and status were valued more than love. Juliet's father Capulet (Richard Moore) was a suited self-made tycoon, who summed up this materialistic society.

As the lovers, Sean Bean (Romeo) and Niamh Cusack (Juliet) were generally praised for playing emotional truth with simplicity and passion. Their genuine love stood in direct contrast with the values of their society.

Niamh Cusack explained this approach: “What makes Romeo and Juliet’s love so vivid… is the contrast with the hatred between the families. Juliet is not so much rebelling against her parents as discovering her own values. They don’t include 'making a good match', love as a business transaction to increase the power of the family." Interview with Lesley Thornton, Observer, 6 April 1986.

PROLOGUE BECOMES EPILOGUE

This production interpretation offered no reconciliation of families at the end of the play. Instead, after Juliet stabbed herself, there was a blackout and then the lights came up on Prince Escalus reading the prologue as a past event, flanked by two golden statues of Romeo and Juliet. Journalists and paparazzi rushed down the aisles of the auditorium to capture the sensational news. In this cynical exploitation, the lovers' tragedy had become just another commercial transaction.

PRODUCTION PHOTOS

Tybalt (Hugh Quarshie) is provoked by Mercutio (Michael Kitchen), much to Benvolio's (Martin Jacobs) unease, Romeo and Juliet, 1986, Royal Shakespeare Theatre

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Where are the vile beginners of this fray? Escalus, Act 3 Scene 1

Tybalt (Hugh Quarshie), killed by Romeo, lies across the bonnet of his own red sports car, provoking Escalus (David Glover) to banish his killer, Romeo and Juliet, 1986, Royal Shakespeare Theatre

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Juliet (Niamh Cusack) and Romeo (Sean Bean) prepare to marry, 1986, Royal Shakespeare Theatre

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Lady Capulet (Anna Nygh), Nurse (Dilys Laye) and Juliet (Niamh Cusack) get ready for the ball in Romeo and Juliet, 1986, Royal Shakespeare Theatre

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Juliet (Niamh Cusack) and Romeo (Sean Bean), 1986, Royal Shakespeare Theatre

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Romeo (Sean Bean) and others try to stop Tybalt (Hugh Quarshie) from throttling Mercutio (Michael Kitchen), Romeo and Juliet, 1986, Royal Shakespeare Theatre

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Romeo (Sean Bean, right) challenges Tybalt (Hugh Quarshie), Romeo and Juliet, 1986, Royal Shakespeare Theatre

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Mercutio (Michael Kitchen) and Benvolio (Martin Jacobs) in a street in Verona, Romeo and Juliet, 1986, Royal Shakespeare Theatre

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Tybalt (Hugh Quarshie) and Lady Capulet (Anna Nygh) with other party-goers, Romeo and Juliet, 1986, Royal Shakespeare Theatre

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Juliet (Niamh Cusack) tells the Nurse (Dilys Laye) that she will sleep on her own on the eve of her marriage to Paris, as Lady Capulet (Anna Nygh) looks on, Romeo and Juliet, 1986, Royal Shakespeare Theatre

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Launch Gallery

STAIR VERONA

The production was set in a modern north Italian city, suggested in Chris Dyer's set by a prevalence of gleaming marble and chrome. The set consisted of "a revolving central unit of white staircase and landings...backed by changing photographic blow-ups, huge and grainy, of Sloanes, clones, cops and bits of architecture" Michael Coveney, Financial Times, 10 April 1986.

ALFA ROMEO

Bogdanov's Verona was inhabited by rich youth like the glamorous black-leather clad Tybalt (Hugh Quarshie). When the sardonic Mercutio (Michael Kitchen) damaged Tybalt's flashy red sports car, it provoked a violent response, sealing the culprit's fate. After his duel with Romeo, the slain Tybalt was discovered sprawled across the bonnet of his beloved car. Instead of swords and daggers, the trendy Veronese youth used flick knives and chains.

In the following design gallery you see more images of Chris Dyer's sets and Ginny Humphrey's costume sketches.

In the streets of Verona, men of the Capulet and Montague households begin to argue... — Tybalt (Hugh Quarshie) is provoked by Mercutio (Michael Kitchen), Romeo and Juliet, 1986
Photo by Joe Cocks Studio Collection © RSC Browse and license our images

Design gallery

Photo of geometric set designed by Chris Dyer for Romeo and Juliet, 1986, Royal Shakespeare Theatre