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Romeo and Jude
A gritty reimagining of Shakespeare's famous tragedy - full of passion, emotion, scandal, disillusionment and family fallout.
A brand new modern-day audiobook adaptation of William Shakespeare's classic love story.
Romeo and Jude - starring Owen Teale (Game of Thrones), Matthew Tennyson (Pride), Nick Moran (Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels) and Ricky Norwood (EastEnders).
An amateur dramatics company in a suburban corner of nowhere. Two men with very different lives, brought together when cast in the roles of Romeo and Juliet - 'as Shakespeare would have it', in the words of their eccentric and enigmatic director. Though the elicit romance doesn’t only play out on the stage.
Against the odds, our heroes struggle to keep hold of each other and to keep a handle on real life. As the pressures, threats and expectations of their worlds draw in, per Shakespeare's original, the pithy banter from the first few scenes evaporates away to reveal a very real and present danger...and even tragedy.
Contains strong language and adult themes.
©2015 Audible Ltd. (P)2015 Audible Ltd.
A brand new modern-day audiobook adaptation of William Shakespeare's classic love story.
Romeo and Jude - starring Owen Teale (Game of Thrones), Matthew Tennyson (Pride), Nick Moran (Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels) and Ricky Norwood (EastEnders).
An amateur dramatics company in a suburban corner of nowhere. Two men with very different lives, brought together when cast in the roles of Romeo and Juliet - 'as Shakespeare would have it', in the words of their eccentric and enigmatic director. Though the elicit romance doesn’t only play out on the stage.
Against the odds, our heroes struggle to keep hold of each other and to keep a handle on real life. As the pressures, threats and expectations of their worlds draw in, per Shakespeare's original, the pithy banter from the first few scenes evaporates away to reveal a very real and present danger...and even tragedy.
Contains strong language and adult themes.
©2015 Audible Ltd. (P)2015 Audible Ltd.
Audible Audio
Published February 10, 2016
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June 7, 2016I have many complicated feels about this.
Also trigger warnings for discussion of sexual abuse and homophobic violence.
On the one hand, I knew what I was getting when I was going in: I mean, a re-telling of Romeo and Juliet by definition has to end in tragedy otherwise it's just ... like ... something else. A nice story about some people who get together with the mild opposition of their families but it's cool. Of course, everyone would complain it wasn't proper Literature, just self-indulgent sop for the stupid. So, yeah, I have no excuse, really, for walking into the Audio Book o'Dead Queers and then being upset by the dead queers.
It's just ... queers die in fiction all the time, you think I'd be used to it by now.
Apparently I'm not used to it.
Except. Okay. Y'know what it's like? Rape in m/m. I read crass, gratuitous abuse scenes in this genre all the goddamn time. Just because it's apparently de rigeur character development for your gays to get raped on the route to twu wuv. And, also, because the romance genre as a whole fetishises male vulnerability (in ways that are both liberating and problematic) which is an essay for a different day. But normally I normally just eyeroll through this stuff because indifference is the best defence. But just occasionally I'll be reading something genuinely good--something I'm invested in--and I'll fall face first into a pointless emotion-wank rape scene and I'll be super upset by it. In ways I simply can't be by the same scene in a shite book.
(Sidebar: of course there are plenty of romance novels, het and queer, that explore abuse in complicated, meaningful and valuable ways)
So basically what I'm saying is ... the reason I'm so upset by the Dead Queers, even though I walked into this beneath a big sign reading "Dead Queers, Get 'Em While They're Cheap" ... was because I cared. Because this was ... actually ... really good in many ways.
I think the other reason I'm disappointed/frustrated by All The Dead Queers Everywhere was because the text as a whole subverts and reflects the Shakespeare play in often intriguing ways, replacing out-dated ideas with recognisably modern ones, and translating very traditional Shakespearey themes (like disguise, performance, family, love, gender, sexuality) into a contemporary context. And, to me, it did this sufficiently effectively that it felt ... genuinely outmoded to end a queered up version of the Romeo and Juliet story with random acts of tragic death.
And, of course, the 21st century world is still shitty for queer people. But I just feel we're told we're going to die enough, y'know? I don't think there's anything a dead queer narrative can meaningfully say any more.
Also, I guess I'll put this in a spoiler tag: .
Weirdly I think the Shakespeare connection sort of ended up working both and for against the play. It gave depth and resonance, but also tied the narrative to an arc that's ultimately pretty tired. Especially when you queer it up. You also get this sort of doubling down on types of tragedy: I mean, Romeo and Juliet is this weird mixture of Greek tragedy ("it was inevitable because, oh, the ways of gods and men") and Shakespearean tragedy ("it was your own stupid fault for being stupid") since you've got all the Greek stuff about fate and inevitability and bad couriers and all the personal stuff about Romeo being an impulsive dickhead and Juliet being a wilful goth and Tybalt being a machismo-maddened psycopath (or victim of toxic masculinity if you prefer).
But in Romeo and Jude ... it's all a bit muddled. None of the tragedy arises directly from character in the way it does with the original (unless you count pyschoness, on the part of Tyrone and Jude's dad, who is Capulet re-imagined as an East London gangster). And fate (and/or the Gods) doesn't really have much meaning to someone in the 21st century. So basically what drives these people to their doom is ... Shakespeare. Because that's the trajectory laid out in the original play (that was nicked from Italy). Put it this way: it's a pretty literal interpretation of Shakespearean tragedy.
Also I can't help finding it slightly convenient that Jude happens to be son of the sort of man who will hire people to murder other people for bumming his son. That's a very specific intersection of homophobia and resource management, you know? I did actually start out liking the interpretation of Capulet - he sort of thrashes confusedly around, feeling like he genuinely cares about his son, but being completely unable to understand him. And, as the son of that kind of man myself, it felt like a very well-observed portrait. This powerful, protective love that can only express itself in brutality. But then he degenerates into frothing murderousness and wanting to get his son shipped off to be cured in China. Or something.
Also, let's be clear, this is super dramatic. There's police chases and quicksand and people being thrown off buildings. And it mostly fits because of the source material. But there's several awkward transitions between more realistic modes and, err, what you might call the Full Hitchcock.
And I've just realised this is basically a stream of criticism. When, in fact, I did actually quite like this. The acting is amazing, there are some incredibly beautiful moments in it, its relationship with the original play is intriguing. And, unlike Romeo and Juliet, which is basically The Tragic Demise of Two Goth Teenagers Who Brought It On Themselves, it does feel genuinely romantic. I mean, for me the saddest moment in R&J is when Mercutio bites it because he's the character I like best. So it's ... actually quite striking for me to experience a version of R&J where I was invested in and consequently sad about the main characters.
Actually, I think that's probably the main reason I'm giving this more of a pass than it might otherwise deserve: it allows the romance between its two queer protagonists to be very, very real. It's not played for laughs. It's not all about sex (although there's plenty of that, too). It's not shown to be something measurably different to any other kind of love. And there's not enough of that outside genre romance.
PS - it gave me very intense feelings about Alliser Thorne, which will be very confusing when we next watch GoT.
I ... really want him to say incredibly passionate things to me. While dressed in the black cloak with the furry shoulder pads.
Possibly I haven't entirely wrapped my head around this Acting concept.
Also trigger warnings for discussion of sexual abuse and homophobic violence.
On the one hand, I knew what I was getting when I was going in: I mean, a re-telling of Romeo and Juliet by definition has to end in tragedy otherwise it's just ... like ... something else. A nice story about some people who get together with the mild opposition of their families but it's cool. Of course, everyone would complain it wasn't proper Literature, just self-indulgent sop for the stupid. So, yeah, I have no excuse, really, for walking into the Audio Book o'Dead Queers and then being upset by the dead queers.
It's just ... queers die in fiction all the time, you think I'd be used to it by now.
Apparently I'm not used to it.
Except. Okay. Y'know what it's like? Rape in m/m. I read crass, gratuitous abuse scenes in this genre all the goddamn time. Just because it's apparently de rigeur character development for your gays to get raped on the route to twu wuv. And, also, because the romance genre as a whole fetishises male vulnerability (in ways that are both liberating and problematic) which is an essay for a different day. But normally I normally just eyeroll through this stuff because indifference is the best defence. But just occasionally I'll be reading something genuinely good--something I'm invested in--and I'll fall face first into a pointless emotion-wank rape scene and I'll be super upset by it. In ways I simply can't be by the same scene in a shite book.
(Sidebar: of course there are plenty of romance novels, het and queer, that explore abuse in complicated, meaningful and valuable ways)
So basically what I'm saying is ... the reason I'm so upset by the Dead Queers, even though I walked into this beneath a big sign reading "Dead Queers, Get 'Em While They're Cheap" ... was because I cared. Because this was ... actually ... really good in many ways.
I think the other reason I'm disappointed/frustrated by All The Dead Queers Everywhere was because the text as a whole subverts and reflects the Shakespeare play in often intriguing ways, replacing out-dated ideas with recognisably modern ones, and translating very traditional Shakespearey themes (like disguise, performance, family, love, gender, sexuality) into a contemporary context. And, to me, it did this sufficiently effectively that it felt ... genuinely outmoded to end a queered up version of the Romeo and Juliet story with random acts of tragic death.
And, of course, the 21st century world is still shitty for queer people. But I just feel we're told we're going to die enough, y'know? I don't think there's anything a dead queer narrative can meaningfully say any more.
Also, I guess I'll put this in a spoiler tag: .
Weirdly I think the Shakespeare connection sort of ended up working both and for against the play. It gave depth and resonance, but also tied the narrative to an arc that's ultimately pretty tired. Especially when you queer it up. You also get this sort of doubling down on types of tragedy: I mean, Romeo and Juliet is this weird mixture of Greek tragedy ("it was inevitable because, oh, the ways of gods and men") and Shakespearean tragedy ("it was your own stupid fault for being stupid") since you've got all the Greek stuff about fate and inevitability and bad couriers and all the personal stuff about Romeo being an impulsive dickhead and Juliet being a wilful goth and Tybalt being a machismo-maddened psycopath (or victim of toxic masculinity if you prefer).
But in Romeo and Jude ... it's all a bit muddled. None of the tragedy arises directly from character in the way it does with the original (unless you count pyschoness, on the part of Tyrone and Jude's dad, who is Capulet re-imagined as an East London gangster). And fate (and/or the Gods) doesn't really have much meaning to someone in the 21st century. So basically what drives these people to their doom is ... Shakespeare. Because that's the trajectory laid out in the original play (that was nicked from Italy). Put it this way: it's a pretty literal interpretation of Shakespearean tragedy.
Also I can't help finding it slightly convenient that Jude happens to be son of the sort of man who will hire people to murder other people for bumming his son. That's a very specific intersection of homophobia and resource management, you know? I did actually start out liking the interpretation of Capulet - he sort of thrashes confusedly around, feeling like he genuinely cares about his son, but being completely unable to understand him. And, as the son of that kind of man myself, it felt like a very well-observed portrait. This powerful, protective love that can only express itself in brutality. But then he degenerates into frothing murderousness and wanting to get his son shipped off to be cured in China. Or something.
Also, let's be clear, this is super dramatic. There's police chases and quicksand and people being thrown off buildings. And it mostly fits because of the source material. But there's several awkward transitions between more realistic modes and, err, what you might call the Full Hitchcock.
And I've just realised this is basically a stream of criticism. When, in fact, I did actually quite like this. The acting is amazing, there are some incredibly beautiful moments in it, its relationship with the original play is intriguing. And, unlike Romeo and Juliet, which is basically The Tragic Demise of Two Goth Teenagers Who Brought It On Themselves, it does feel genuinely romantic. I mean, for me the saddest moment in R&J is when Mercutio bites it because he's the character I like best. So it's ... actually quite striking for me to experience a version of R&J where I was invested in and consequently sad about the main characters.
Actually, I think that's probably the main reason I'm giving this more of a pass than it might otherwise deserve: it allows the romance between its two queer protagonists to be very, very real. It's not played for laughs. It's not all about sex (although there's plenty of that, too). It's not shown to be something measurably different to any other kind of love. And there's not enough of that outside genre romance.
PS - it gave me very intense feelings about Alliser Thorne, which will be very confusing when we next watch GoT.
I ... really want him to say incredibly passionate things to me. While dressed in the black cloak with the furry shoulder pads.
Possibly I haven't entirely wrapped my head around this Acting concept.
October 9, 2016
I came across Romeo and Jude during my daily morning visit to the Audible website. Every day, Audible has a Daily Deal in which they feature an audio book at a significantly cheaper price. Romeo and Jude caught my eye for some pretty obvious reasons. One, it was obviously a take on Romeo and Juliet and two, it quite clearly featured a gay relationship. Consider me intrigued.
--
What I Liked
The classic retelling with a slight twist. Romeo and Jude is set in modern times as an amateur theater company in a small town plans to put on a production of Romeo and Juliet. The only catch is, they have a very avant-garde director who feels like she wants to follow in the path of Shakespeare and use a male actor to play Juliet. What starts out as an awkward on-stage situation between the two male leads ends up turning into an off-stage love affair. I thought this was a unique and interesting take on a classic Shakespearean play.
The audio drama. I listened to this as an audio drama, making it the second one I have ever listened to, the other being Locke & Key. I absolutely love the idea of audio dramas as it feels as though you’re watching a film…minus the visuals. A lot of the storytelling is being done by the multiple voice actors as well as the many sound effects and musical score. Audio dramas are honestly one of the best things I have come across since I started using Audible.
The multiple voice actors. It was easy to determine who was who as each character was portrayed by a different actor. This also helped me visualize each character, especially our two lead men as there is supposed to be a considerable age difference between the two of them. I think this was conveyed perfectly based on the choices of Owen Teale and Matthew Tennyson as our lead voice actors.
--
What I Didn’t Like
The slight change of the ending. The entire audio drama was basically following the main points of the classic tale of Romeo and Juliet…until the very end. Why follow the story so closely only to change the ending? Everyone knows how Romeo and Juliet ends. Everyone knows what to expect and what they’ve gotten themselves into when they start reading. The ending is probably the most memorable thing about the original…so why change it?
Tyrone. The Tybalt of this version of Romeo and Juliet. He was just despicable. I know that his character is supposed to be, but man did he ever grind my gears while listening to this story. It may have also been the way he spoke…which wasn’t with your typical prim and proper British accent compared to the other actors in the cast.
--
Overall, Romeo and Jude was definitely worth the listen. It was a unique and different take on a familiar story that we all know very well. It was refreshing and wonderful to listen to in its audio drama format. I highly recommend checking it out, or any audio drama for that matter. They’re always a fun experience!
--
Initial post listening thoughts:
I mean. I knew where this was going. It's a retelling of Romeo and Juliet for crying out loud. But that one minor change at the end irritated me slightly.
March 29, 2016
My original Romeo and Jude audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.
In this latest Audible Original Drama, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is contemporized with a fresh LGBT twist on the classic play as it explores gender and sexuality.
The setting is suburban England. Miranda is the new and rather strong-minded director in charge of producing Romeo and Juliet for the local amateur dramatics society. In Shakespeare’s times, it was common for men to play female roles. But when Jude, a recent university drop-out in his twenties who is unapologetically sure of his sexual preference, is cast in the role of Juliet, suburbia feels uncomfortable. Jude’s father is a terrible bully and homophobic. Ray, who is cast as Romeo, is a middle-aged recent divorcé and a failing business owner. To keep his cardboard company from folding, he is dependent on funding from Jude’s father. So when life imitates art, and Ray and Jude fall in love, the proverbial …. hits the fan. Violence and tragedy ensue forcing Ray and Jude to go on the run across England.
As the story develops, so do the characters. Jude and Ray discover more things about themselves and who they really are or want to be. Apart from Ray and Jude, I particularly loved Miranda, the play director, who added a lot of hilarity to the play and also has her own tragic story play out.
Beautifully written, this was a very moving, in parts suspenseful, in parts funny, story about prejudice, about attitudes towards same-sex relationships and relationships with an age difference. It contains sex, violence, and strong language.
The voice actors were outstanding, and that applies to the entire cast. Whoever cast these voice artists into their respective roles for this production did a fantastic job. Every character sounded just right and gave the play a fantastic authentic feeling. The production was brilliant, the music was fitting, and the sound effects enhanced the experience.
If you like radio plays you will love this production and you don’t need to be a Shakespeare connoisseur to enjoy this adaptation. It was quite different from what I would normally listen to, but I really enjoyed it and finished it in one sitting.
Audiobook provided for review by the audiobookreviewer.com
In this latest Audible Original Drama, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is contemporized with a fresh LGBT twist on the classic play as it explores gender and sexuality.
The setting is suburban England. Miranda is the new and rather strong-minded director in charge of producing Romeo and Juliet for the local amateur dramatics society. In Shakespeare’s times, it was common for men to play female roles. But when Jude, a recent university drop-out in his twenties who is unapologetically sure of his sexual preference, is cast in the role of Juliet, suburbia feels uncomfortable. Jude’s father is a terrible bully and homophobic. Ray, who is cast as Romeo, is a middle-aged recent divorcé and a failing business owner. To keep his cardboard company from folding, he is dependent on funding from Jude’s father. So when life imitates art, and Ray and Jude fall in love, the proverbial …. hits the fan. Violence and tragedy ensue forcing Ray and Jude to go on the run across England.
As the story develops, so do the characters. Jude and Ray discover more things about themselves and who they really are or want to be. Apart from Ray and Jude, I particularly loved Miranda, the play director, who added a lot of hilarity to the play and also has her own tragic story play out.
Beautifully written, this was a very moving, in parts suspenseful, in parts funny, story about prejudice, about attitudes towards same-sex relationships and relationships with an age difference. It contains sex, violence, and strong language.
The voice actors were outstanding, and that applies to the entire cast. Whoever cast these voice artists into their respective roles for this production did a fantastic job. Every character sounded just right and gave the play a fantastic authentic feeling. The production was brilliant, the music was fitting, and the sound effects enhanced the experience.
If you like radio plays you will love this production and you don’t need to be a Shakespeare connoisseur to enjoy this adaptation. It was quite different from what I would normally listen to, but I really enjoyed it and finished it in one sitting.
Audiobook provided for review by the audiobookreviewer.com
February 7, 2019
4.50*
This was totally unexpected.
Not the m/m of it all because, really, going into it with this title... you gotta be blind not to know. I really liked this take on Romeo and Juliet. It was really well done but, at the same time, everything went by so fast that I didn't really have time to actually "get to know" the characters well enough to like them or something. I realised that Tyrone was Tybalt, so that's fine, but he had a touch of crazy to him. Charlie was ok, I guess. Miranda was cool.
Overall, the big surprise was how this audio was done. It doesn't read like a book at all. It's almost like it's a play having been recorded. Or a movie or something. It's 100% dialogue. I read some of the reviews and people have mentioned audio drama?!
It was pretty cool but I couldn't give it 5* because there were little things I either didn't quite completely get or liked although I basically know the whole Romeo and Juliet story by heart.
This was totally unexpected.
Not the m/m of it all because, really, going into it with this title... you gotta be blind not to know. I really liked this take on Romeo and Juliet. It was really well done but, at the same time, everything went by so fast that I didn't really have time to actually "get to know" the characters well enough to like them or something. I realised that Tyrone was Tybalt, so that's fine, but he had a touch of crazy to him. Charlie was ok, I guess. Miranda was cool.
Overall, the big surprise was how this audio was done. It doesn't read like a book at all. It's almost like it's a play having been recorded. Or a movie or something. It's 100% dialogue. I read some of the reviews and people have mentioned audio drama?!
It was pretty cool but I couldn't give it 5* because there were little things I either didn't quite completely get or liked although I basically know the whole Romeo and Juliet story by heart.
August 15, 2018
Knowing the story of Romeo and Juliet quite well, I was intrigued when this appeared as a free drama included with my Audible membership. Admittedly I wasn't expecting it to be up to much - after all it was free. But then so was West Cork and that was fantastic.
Anyway I was drawn into the story immediately, with its modern day parallel retelling of Romeo and Juliet, but from a gay perspective. It was quite an emotional rollercoaster, with many moments when I just had to stop listening and take a break.
It was so well told and just as heartbreaking as the original.
I hope there will be more Audible dramas if this quality.
Anyway I was drawn into the story immediately, with its modern day parallel retelling of Romeo and Juliet, but from a gay perspective. It was quite an emotional rollercoaster, with many moments when I just had to stop listening and take a break.
It was so well told and just as heartbreaking as the original.
I hope there will be more Audible dramas if this quality.
November 26, 2020
Way too melodramatic for my liking, which was a pity. It started out very real and believable and then went way overboard trying to follow the trajectory of the original. I wish they'd tried to stay more grounded and stuck to normal character-based conflicts instead of throwing around plot twist after plot twist.
Still has some good moments and is worth a listen. This is the first book that I am listening to as an audio-drama and it was quite good. The voice-acting and the sound effects contributed nicely to the flow. I got tired of all the drama towards the end, though.
Still has some good moments and is worth a listen. This is the first book that I am listening to as an audio-drama and it was quite good. The voice-acting and the sound effects contributed nicely to the flow. I got tired of all the drama towards the end, though.
Read
March 16, 2023Well. That was emotionally devastating, even though I knew it would be, seeing what Shakespeare play it was based on. The aged up characters and modern setting worked.
August 2, 2018
Brilliant!
May 27, 2018
I've always found the romance in Romeo and Juliette too much, I would feel more and care more about the characters if they expressed their feeling less, more like 'Brokeback Mountain' or 'The Remains of the Day rather than beating me over the head with how in love they were. I liked this modern version but I had a few problems with it.
May 11, 2017
Well, that was intense. Probably my favorite Romeo and Juliet interpretation, actually? It was genuinely romantic and tragic, without following the play-within-a-play conceit so closely that you knew what was going to happen. The excellent voice acting just sucked me right in, and it didn't hurt that it was a full-on audio play. I actually listened to sections over again after finishing, and got more depth out of the characters once I understood their whole path. I kind of want a behind-the-scenes segment now lol...I can only assume all the smoochies were done in real time instead of cleverly synced together? Because they sounded deliciously real. Maybe we have a play-within-a-play-within-a-play where the voice actors run away together haha...
September 16, 2016
A quick read. And an interesting take on R&J.
January 9, 2021
Well that was unexpected.
*** Mild spoilers, although not really any spoilers at all of you know Shakespeare ***
I saw this and thought, Meh, Romeo and Juliet has been done to death (excuse the pun), so can this really be any good when I know what's going to happen?
But knowing the plot of Romeo and Juliet did not spoil my enjoyment of Romeo and Jude. At all. In fact in enhanced it. It added to the suspense, to the emotion, and I found myself so unexpectedly invested in the characters that I was silently cheering them on as they fled. Willing them to push through like I was giving out water on the sidelines of the London Marathon.
I wanted them to win.
I wanted there to be a happy ending so badly, even though I knew that there couldn't possibly be one, and that for me was what made this so great.
Side note: the smoochy sound effects were a little full on for me, but more so when I was listening in public (like walking through Tesco picking up groceries) - it somehow felt like I was listening to something very naughty indeed...! Still, that was a small niggle.
Side side note: Miranda? Hello?! Can I be her please? I need some of her flair, like, right now.
Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this at all. I was genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It was strangely gripping and equally moving. What a great cast, and what a delicious re-imagining. A true hidden gem.
*** Mild spoilers, although not really any spoilers at all of you know Shakespeare ***
I saw this and thought, Meh, Romeo and Juliet has been done to death (excuse the pun), so can this really be any good when I know what's going to happen?
But knowing the plot of Romeo and Juliet did not spoil my enjoyment of Romeo and Jude. At all. In fact in enhanced it. It added to the suspense, to the emotion, and I found myself so unexpectedly invested in the characters that I was silently cheering them on as they fled. Willing them to push through like I was giving out water on the sidelines of the London Marathon.
I wanted them to win.
I wanted there to be a happy ending so badly, even though I knew that there couldn't possibly be one, and that for me was what made this so great.
Side note: the smoochy sound effects were a little full on for me, but more so when I was listening in public (like walking through Tesco picking up groceries) - it somehow felt like I was listening to something very naughty indeed...! Still, that was a small niggle.
Side side note: Miranda? Hello?! Can I be her please? I need some of her flair, like, right now.
Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this at all. I was genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It was strangely gripping and equally moving. What a great cast, and what a delicious re-imagining. A true hidden gem.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 5, 2018
Heavens when Audible get it right they are capable of producing genuinely outstanding audio drama! This is a distance away from my normal reading but I was captivated from almost the start to the end. I almost didn't go near this. After all Romeo and Juliet has been done to death. Step forward though Romeo and Jude to prove me completely wrong on that point.
An amateur group of thespians with more enthusiasm than talent takes the bold step of hiring a professional director for the first time to guide them through Shakespeare's tragic romance. The director turns out to be rather more than they bargained for and one or two of the actors end up with a lot more than they thought they would get out of the experience. Just like the original it has family feuds, betrayals and a defining theme of how destructive prejudice can be not just to those on the receiving end but also to those dishing it out.
The story is great and the cast does it complete justice with quite unrestrained performances, there is no mere reading here it is all quality acting. I didn't think that this would be one I'd rave about but it is, in its own way one of the best things available on Audible. This is the kind of quality drama that is going to send tremors through the more traditional broadcasting and publishing houses as they try to figure out how to compete!
An amateur group of thespians with more enthusiasm than talent takes the bold step of hiring a professional director for the first time to guide them through Shakespeare's tragic romance. The director turns out to be rather more than they bargained for and one or two of the actors end up with a lot more than they thought they would get out of the experience. Just like the original it has family feuds, betrayals and a defining theme of how destructive prejudice can be not just to those on the receiving end but also to those dishing it out.
The story is great and the cast does it complete justice with quite unrestrained performances, there is no mere reading here it is all quality acting. I didn't think that this would be one I'd rave about but it is, in its own way one of the best things available on Audible. This is the kind of quality drama that is going to send tremors through the more traditional broadcasting and publishing houses as they try to figure out how to compete!
April 12, 2018
I love the concept and it is adapted so well here. There are so many complex characters in this that I was not expecting and some scenes really blew me away. My favorite characters were Jude and Miranda. They give zero shits about what everyone else thinks and are great representative characters. Miranda literally makes people cry and just does not care. I want to live that life.
There were some cons. About halfway through I remembered I don't like Romeo & Juliet, the play or the characters. So, when Ray and Jude got as melodramatic as they are I started doing a lot of eye rolling. I also didn't particularly like the format of the audio. I loved the voice actors and how expressive it was in comparison to a regular audio book but, it was hard to follow sometimes. The audio would fade away when switching scenes and there is no stage description so, some action scenes were disjointed.
There were some cons. About halfway through I remembered I don't like Romeo & Juliet, the play or the characters. So, when Ray and Jude got as melodramatic as they are I started doing a lot of eye rolling. I also didn't particularly like the format of the audio. I loved the voice actors and how expressive it was in comparison to a regular audio book but, it was hard to follow sometimes. The audio would fade away when switching scenes and there is no stage description so, some action scenes were disjointed.
March 21, 2021
"Romeo & Jude" by Marty Ross was hard to get into at first, because it starts out so slow and... well, boring! I listened to half the first chapter, then dropped it, and then started again, dropped it again only to start again for the third time.
When I finally managed to get past the very slow beginning, the story captured me, and it was a really good story, too. A bit melodramatic, but that's to be expected (and forgiven) seeing as what the source material is.
Kudos to the author for doing such an amazing job of reimagining this particular story in a modern context and for breaking the fourth wall more than once in the most amusing ways.
Besides, despite the plot being pretty close to the original, there were a few twists that actually caught me by surprise.
Also, kudos to the whole cast as well for their excellent performance. The sound effects were very good as well, really managing to create a visual landscape for each scene.
When I finally managed to get past the very slow beginning, the story captured me, and it was a really good story, too. A bit melodramatic, but that's to be expected (and forgiven) seeing as what the source material is.
Kudos to the author for doing such an amazing job of reimagining this particular story in a modern context and for breaking the fourth wall more than once in the most amusing ways.
Besides, despite the plot being pretty close to the original, there were a few twists that actually caught me by surprise.
Also, kudos to the whole cast as well for their excellent performance. The sound effects were very good as well, really managing to create a visual landscape for each scene.
May 16, 2022
This is a fantastic retelling of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet - and a fantastic audio production from Audible.
I got pulled into this story so thoroughly - how in the world it managed to shock and appall me when technically I knew where this had to be going is beyond me.
The story plays on the nature of theatre whilst highlighting serious societal issues of homophobia, gender binaries and casual violence. The play does hinge somewhat on high levels of homophobia within one family and as the plot circles and the suspense builds, as the listener you're begging for the characters to just leave and find other people who will accept them.
The plot and characterisation are brilliant - the setting of the play and the sexual and gender exploration of the two main characters returns a level of depth to this play that a modern audience perhaps misses if they watch the original without understanding of historical context.
I wanted to look away at the end, and couldn't. Brilliantly done.
I got pulled into this story so thoroughly - how in the world it managed to shock and appall me when technically I knew where this had to be going is beyond me.
The story plays on the nature of theatre whilst highlighting serious societal issues of homophobia, gender binaries and casual violence. The play does hinge somewhat on high levels of homophobia within one family and as the plot circles and the suspense builds, as the listener you're begging for the characters to just leave and find other people who will accept them.
The plot and characterisation are brilliant - the setting of the play and the sexual and gender exploration of the two main characters returns a level of depth to this play that a modern audience perhaps misses if they watch the original without understanding of historical context.
I wanted to look away at the end, and couldn't. Brilliantly done.
September 12, 2018
Utterly superb reimagining of Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. Tragic, funny and moving in the extreme. This audio play is well worth a listen but probably not for younger listeners due to the heavy sexual/violence and swearing involved with this production. The cast did an amazing job at creating this world. I also like that they used locations in my local area within the last portion of the story. Although the story doesn't maybe turn out exactly how it does in the play I really liked the way they resolved the story as it kept to the heart of the story and just tweaked it slightly. Overall the cast, production values and the story itself made me love this play that up to this point I haven't really loved. Although i have marked it down as a 4 star read/listen it is definitely at least a 4.5 stars listen possibly even a 5 star.
April 14, 2021
Major content warning for homophobic violence and language, though I suspect that was always going to be a given in a queer adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.
I thought this audiobook was excellently performed and the story well told, and in many ways was only let down by pursuing the source material. Put simply, knowing how it was going to end up rather soured my relationship with the rest of the story but that's on Shakespeare for writing such a well known play. There's a lot of threads going on that maybe could have been reduced but at the same time I didn't feel any of the characters lacked room to breathe so I'm not sure.
I recommend it for Shakespeare fans or queer fiction fans (or others who combine both like me) just know that it's definitely challenging to listen to at times.
I thought this audiobook was excellently performed and the story well told, and in many ways was only let down by pursuing the source material. Put simply, knowing how it was going to end up rather soured my relationship with the rest of the story but that's on Shakespeare for writing such a well known play. There's a lot of threads going on that maybe could have been reduced but at the same time I didn't feel any of the characters lacked room to breathe so I'm not sure.
I recommend it for Shakespeare fans or queer fiction fans (or others who combine both like me) just know that it's definitely challenging to listen to at times.
June 4, 2020
Excellently performed gay contemporary retelling of Romeo and Juliet. I found it compelling and entertaining overall and I found myself really rooting for Romeo and Jude. This was the first time I heard so much passionate "kissing" in an audiobook. (At least it sounded very much like kissing.) Some of it was quite beautifully written. I think it would make a wonderful stage play to see in person. I looked online and couldn't find any mention of a stage version, but hope it is made into one.
May 27, 2024
This was a hair's breadth away from totally perfect, and it was such a pleasure that I'd be a sad sod to give it less than a perfect score.
The performances are absolutely fantastic - full of character, and the actors played off of each other remarkably well.
The story could have perhaps been tweaked at one specific moment to make it more... plausible, maybe. But, in my opinion, where the story or dialogue went over-the-top it was done not only with purpose, but also done well.
Again - a total pleasure, and I'm so happy I stumbled into it by absolute chance.
The performances are absolutely fantastic - full of character, and the actors played off of each other remarkably well.
The story could have perhaps been tweaked at one specific moment to make it more... plausible, maybe. But, in my opinion, where the story or dialogue went over-the-top it was done not only with purpose, but also done well.
Again - a total pleasure, and I'm so happy I stumbled into it by absolute chance.
July 3, 2017
Actual rating for the story: 3.5 stars, but the narration/voice acting was extremely well done!
Romeo and Juliet in its original form is not my favorite play, so while I enjoyed this alternative version, it was never going to be my favorite thing. The acting was well done, and very convincing, and the story was much more interesting than I thought, given I already was exposed to the source material.
Romeo and Juliet in its original form is not my favorite play, so while I enjoyed this alternative version, it was never going to be my favorite thing. The acting was well done, and very convincing, and the story was much more interesting than I thought, given I already was exposed to the source material.
November 30, 2020
This started out very compellingly and amusingly. An audio play about a theater troupe with reasonably good character development and an intriguing plot: great for an audio diversion. However, it devolved, at least at the point I gave up, into a homoerotic bodice-ripper: I can't have you, it's destroying my life, but I can't leave you, you're everything... After 3 iterations of that scene with no intervening substance, I gave up.
December 10, 2016
It was a play, not a story being read to the listener. Two Shakespearean actors, men, play the part of Romeo and Juliet. They are gay and fall in love. Background sound effects and music. I found it hard to listen to and did not like the subject.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 29, 2020
A nice quickread, occasionally funny. Even if it's an adaptation for modern times and you would have expected the main events, it still managed to have a twist and social implication. I wasn't so fond of the ending, tho, but that's just me.
August 17, 2017
This was a really entertaining story. Well done!
September 7, 2017
Excellent
May 9, 2018
Stunning and heartbreaking. Wonderful performances. Wish it'd been twice as long!
May 10, 2018
This story got ridiculous.
May 18, 2018
I wasnt too sure when i first started this book. Boy was I wrong. It was an incredible performance, really had that Shakespeare vibe.
June 24, 2018
Demolished this story in a day and it made me cry in the gym. Amazing!
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