What better way to celebrate International Woman's Day then with David Tennant!And what better role then Romeo! David performed as Mercutio in the 1998 Arkangel audio of Romeo and Juliet and he always said e wanted to be Romeo before he was 30. He made it by the skin of his teeth performing him in the 2000 season of the RSC when he was 29.
He performed as Romeo 45 times in Stratford and then in Newcastle for a couple of performances and finishing in London in March of 2001.
Excerpts from The Scotsman November 9, 2000 - Kate Copstick
"David Tennant has a deliciously disrespectful theory about Shakespeare. It comes up when he is telling me how Michael Boyd, the man who is directing his performance as Romeo in a new RSC production of the Bard's most famous love story, decided to "tweak" the script. This tweaking, he explains, included the alteration of references to Juliet's age. After extensive studies of the original play, Tennant says, he has come to the conclusion that Shakespeare was, basically, a dirty old man. "He makes it specifically clear that Juliet is 14, and then, not much further on, he makes it very, very clear that she's been f****d," he says. "I think he was probably something of a dirty old man."
Still, he is enjoying playing what he calls the "ultimate romantic lead". This is the Scottish actor's second time with the RSC, and he talks of the "terrifying baggage" that working for the company brings."
In April 2012 David will once again be involved in Romeo and Juliet on BBC Three- he will be lending his voice to the part of Prince Escalus.
