Love Is In The Air

Shakespeare plays are a dangerous business. Just ask Jamieson Caldwell, who is playing the role of Romeo in the Australian Shakespeare Company's current production of Romeo & Juliet. Caldwell has already had one trip to the hospital, while still wielding a recovering wound from his previous role in Hamlet. The incident occurred during a rehearsal for a sword fight. “My finger got jammed by the sword. They are real swords but they're blunt. But if your finger's in the wrong spot and it gets caught, it's pretty bad!” Caldwell laughs. “Luckily it didn't have to be stitched.”

Apart from the physical dangers, Shakespeare always has its own particular challenges for actors. “The language is always a bit of a challenge, but this one not as much,” says Caldwell. “It's one of the easier Shakespeare plays to get your head around. And it's that traditional story that everyone knows. And it's about love and matters of the heart and everyone's acquainted with that in some aspect.”

It's the most famous love story ever told, and you'd be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't know the tale of these star-crossed lovers. For Caldwell, that familiarity meant it was important to find his own way of playing Romeo, to newcomer Madeleine Field's Juliet. “People know what they want to see when they come and see this production. And so the question is always, 'What am I going to bring to the role which is different?'”

The outdoor setting in the Royal Botanic Gardens turned out to be the key to his approach to playing lovelorn Romeo. “Because it's an outdoor event and it's not just your theatre-goers, it's a lot of your general public coming along to see it for a nice night out and the general vibe, you don't want to make any decisions that are too drastic. I think I've got my own flavour on it. He knows what he wants and he's a little bit young when it comes to love, so he can change his mind pretty quickly too! But once he's got his heart set on something that's just it. So I just make him really direct in what he wants.”

Caldwell, who trained at the VCA, is also blessed with model good looks, and so brings a certain aesthetic appeal to the role. In fact, it's quite hard to find a photo of him with his shirt on. “Yeah!” he laughs. “I do quite a bit of topless work, modelling, yeah. It's a good little side gig.” He's clearly quite good in that role, too. “I've had to invoice for my shirt and my belt before because as soon as I got there, before I'd even had time to get changed they'd ripped my shirt off and my belt had gone missing somewhere! But that's all part of it, it's all fun and games!”

But let's get back to Shakespeare. Unshackled by traditional constraints, artistic director Glenn Elston has put together a production that features a musical underscore by Paul Norton. So the ingredients are all there. It's Shakespeare's most romantic and accessible play, in a lovely outdoor garden setting, with some lovely music and a big spunk of a lead in the role of Romeo. What more could you ask for?

WHAT: Romeo & Juliet

WHEN & WHERE: Saturday 9 March, Royal Botanic Gardens