I'll only re-tell the story in an extreme nutshell as even if we don't remember all of the nuances, I'm sure we all know the basics. There's a feud between two families, we're never told why or for how long. The son of one falls in love and secretly marries the daughter of the other and everything goes terribly wrong ending with both of them and several others dead in a tomb.

Director Penny Tuerk has however mixed up the beginning a little. Purists may not have liked it but I did. She has combined the role of the Prologue with the Prince (John Morton) and put the Prologue's speech after the intro fight between the young men of the warring Capulet and Montague clans. Not only this, but she sent every member of the cast into the fray wearing t-shirts from several past productions (including the nurse with a broom stick!). In this way the lovers, parents and others mentioned in the Prologue were actually there on stage with him - frozen - in order that they could be introduced to us ahead of the action.

The only problem with this clever piece of staging in London was that we could hear very little of what was said over the clanking of blades and guttural roars of fighting. If you don't know the story and aren't comfortable with Shakespeare, the director and aficionados may know you haven't really missed anything, but it can unsettle an audience already nervous about understanding it and make them feel they are already behind before we have started. However, in Paris it worked extremely well as it certainly got people's attention from their picnics and chatter and due to the strategically placed microphones, we actually heard a little more detail.

It was a lovely and for the most part successful production in both venues although I must say it seemed (for me) to work better in Paris, blending with the gorgeous scenery of the Jardin Shakespeare and fitting better with the vast open air space and larger, less jaded audience. It looked wonderful, thanks to Lindsay Royan's (with assistance from Richard Kirby) stunning fight scenes and dance choreography, Irena's Pancer's costumes and Lawrence Tuerk's minimal set and sound including traditional music. Costume-wise - at first in London the ambivalence as to when we were - Renaissance? Adam Ant's 1980? or some strange other-galactic mixture of the two(?!)- bothered me for a few minutes only. And in Paris it just worked without any second thoughts. Quite frankly the outfits I'd seen on the Paris streets that day on my way there made anything seem correct and again it didn't matter. In fact people I was with raved about the eclectic-ness of it. The one thing which struck me immediately in both venues was the cleverness of the Capulets in Blue; the Montagues in Red, Paris in military uniform and Mercutio in a mad combination of the two quite rightly both as cousins of the Prince.

I apologise that I will not be able to mention everyone in the extremely strong, unified ensemble but will pick out a few. Asma Mani, always in white except for her pale blue cloak and a blue sash - again a clever touch by the costume designer or perhaps at directorial insistence - looked absolutely right as the innocent and yet knowing, cautious but adventurous, always loving and loyal Juliet. She was partnered perfectly by Adam Lake as Romeo. We felt the attraction right from the beginning - even in the sword fighting prologue. And they were always comfortable together even if they made Friar Lawrence uncomfortable occasionally! In Paris especially, the balcony scenes were especially romantic, placed as they were among the rocks and bushes with Romeo scaling rocks and tree trunks and using the tree to hide from his friends. His dilemma at wishing to avoid a fight with Tybalt, (an imposing and playful Ken Thomson), because he was now secretly married to his cousin Juliet and yet being raised to hate him as a Capulet, was clearly played as was his despair at hearing of Juliet's supposed death and yet having compassion for the poor apothecary.

Arlo Green as Mercutio was full of energy and mischievous madness, making even the extremely difficult Queen Mab speech quite understandable and watchable. I especially liked how everyone suddenly disappeared when he was hurt, in fear of being discovered and punished, leaving him to tell us alone he knows he is dying. This made it much more poignant, as did his anger at Romeo for getting in the way and possibly causing the injury.

Tom Salyers as Friar Laurence made the friar quite human and brotherly rather than strict and imposing. The scene on his own picking flowers and herbs for potions is often deleted but he made it endearing and watchable as well as understandable. Niki Mylonas as Juliet's nurse was also extremely watchable. Often this role is played for laughs but her relationship with Juliet was touching and fun, her scenes with Romeo motherly and kind and we especially got a sense of the lusty wench she might once have been.

Now unfortunately a few niggles: Christopher O'Dea as Peter; a role often deleted, was interesting. But in the touching scene between the Nurse and Romeo in Friar Laurence's cell, on the small Theatro Technis stage in London, he was placed in the strong upstage centre position and his antics with his flask pulled focus away from the very lovely and important scene on stage with him. In Paris it was not quite so distracting as in all fairness the scenery also fights with the actors for focus and he came third.

Peter Novis as old Capulet provided a lovely moment in the party scene with his mind willing to dance but being told by others that his body wasn't. In his second role as the apothecary later on, Mr Novis' performance was absolutely lovely but I felt there was no need for the elaborate and old-fashioned ‘Dresser-style' makeup he employed. In London under the lights it was odd enough but in Paris even in the evening light which still required no electrics, it just looked slightly pantomime-ish. It is a shame because the scene and character were very touching. However the makeup and cartoonish poison sign on his box of potions made the scene played for laughs, as though neither the actor nor the audience were trusted enough for it to be played ‘straight. Rachel Bothamley as Brother John also got giggles in both venues for her drawn-on beard. There was again no need and made light of the extremely important scene of Friar Laurence being told his letter to Romeo was not sent. We had Romeo's servant obviously played by a young woman (Imogen de Ste Croix) being called ‘young man', ‘sir' etc. so why not trust our imaginations a little further in having the actress play Friar John bare-faced? A bearded monk was an anomaly anyhow but the drawn-on beard just took away from the importance of the scene.

In London I thought some of the actors spoke too fast and were perhaps a little nasal but I saw it opening night and nerves could account for that. For the most part this seems to have calmed down in Paris, due to the vast open aired theatre as well as ‘bedding in'. However I did feel more work may have been required on promoting healthy vocal projection techniques as some were difficult to hear in Paris and on the second performance of the day, several struggled with tired and strained throats.

However, niggles aside, all in all this was a strong production visually and performance-wise, again promoting the Tower theatre splendidly in London but especially in Paris. A big well done to all.