Some things really are worth the wait.

I don’t necessarily mean this review, which is definitely too late as the 2024 Petersfield Shakespeare Festival finished just under a month ago.

I refer, of course, to the show itself. For Romeo & Juliet was intended to be the centrepiece of the 2020 season, only for a pesky pandemic to spoil the party like a plague in Mantua.

Fast forward and here we are in Liss Forest for a show four years in the making.

The location does have parallels with an archetypal Italian town, sitting on a hilltop with director Becky Hope-Palmer realising a dream of setting her play in a small village.

The long central stage, buffeted by a shed at one end and a bar and overlooking balcony at the other worked a treat. So much that Juliet (Kiara Nicole Pillai) loomed over the production, both physically and dramatically, showing the comfort in a leading role that comes from playing it before.

But it also placed the actors right at the heart of the production in every sense, with the impending sense of dread that comes with its tragic ending being shared by the audience.

Make no mistake, Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy and this production made no attempt to sugar-coat the ending.

If anything, the fleeting moments of light made the darker segments even more stark, hammering home the message this play isn’t going to end well for the star-crossed lovers.

Still, there are moments of hilarity. The near-opening fight, juxtaposing Shakespearean threats with cricket bats, golf clubs and a fast getaway on a cart, set things up nicely and provided a great introduction to the Capulet-Montague rivalry.

The party in which Romeo (a terrifically yearning Peter Losasso) first sees Juliet after hoisting Mercutio (Adam Young) into the heavens in slow motion was also joyful, much like the latter’s performances throughout.

He carried an edgy, comedic and slightly Johnny Rotten vibe which only turned dark when a blade gets in the way.

The play also built up Sister Laurence’s (the excellent Josie White) part in the story, as the role is often underplayed. Yet she marries the not-so feuding couple and devises the doomed plan that would have saved them. Her delight in bringing the two together, and her shock in realising her vitally important message to Romeo had not been passed on, were a masterclass in emotional range.

The nurse (Amy Allen, who also played Lady Montague) showed real compassion and care for Juliet, Chenise Lynette caught the eye as Benvolia with a measured performance while Henry Douthwaite was a real patriarch figure as Capulet, decrying her daughter for spurning Paris and being an all-round boss who eventually realises the feud must stop.

There have been stories of more woe, but few as cherished of that of Juliet and Romeo. And in the fading light of Liss Forest, it dawned this really was a production that was worth the wait.

* Paul Ferguson watched the PSF production of Romeo & Juliet at Wylds Farm, Liss Forest, on Wednesday, July 17.