Romiet-and-Julio

WOW! This blogger did such a great job ay writing this review that I want to go see it now! (that is a rare thing… I’m usually very critical of reviews!)

Here it is so you can judge it for yourself:

Romiet and Julio

Monday February 12th 2007, b:36 am
Filed under: Shakespeare, Gender, Drama, Culture, women

I attended a performance of Romeo and Juliet this past Thursday. When buying my tickets—at the amazing student price of $10—I realized that I had never seen a “classic” rendition of the play. The two shows I attended in the past were art-house performances and wildly interpretive. These adaptations attempted to create a new edge to the show, but ultimately portrayed the exact same message without much of a twist, aside from some crazy symbolism involving shoes and a dead girl.

The thought that I was going to see a “normal” performance had me feeling excited and cultured. Because I was excited, it’s needless to say that my bubble was about to burst. Not two days before the play I noticed an article in the local news paper titled “Romeo and Juliet: Shakespeare’s tale of life, love and death takes a twist.” Wah Wah, bring in the decrescendo-ing trombone . There went my idea of a night at the playhouse.

I read the article skimming for whatever “gritty” or “refreshing” “twist” the show would take and found that the theater company putting on the show, The Aquila Theater Company, would perform the classic script of Romeo and Juliet but would draw their parts from a hat.

At first this baffled me, but then the possibilities crept into my mind. Did this mean that the couple could be homosexual? Could the roles be reversed? Would Capulet be a cross-dressing, pants-wearing matriarch? Apparently, yes, yes and yes.

These amazing possibilities are plausible because supposedly—I’m still a bit skeptical–each member of the 6 person cast has learned every part in the play, and audience members draw the actors’ and actresses’ parts from bags.

The show could take any one of numerous twists. The performance I attended remained fairly neutral except that Romeo was a middle-aged man, Juliet: a younger woman, a man played the nurse and a woman portrayed Benvolio.

The performers did an amazing job; the nurse was especially hilarious, partly due to the fact that she was a he talking about breast feeding but mostly because the actor did a superb job and played the part well.

Mercutio developed into an amazing character, and while still mischievous, quick-witted and sly, he was played more flamboyantly than I’m accustomed to, which was not a negative point at all; he was even more entertaining than usual.

While the idea seemed strange and very un-classic, I realized that the performance, which had a minimal cast, a conservative setting and few props, probably came closer to an authentic, classic performance than any glamorous movie or “classic” rendition I could have seen or may ever see.

Not only are some of the female characters played by men, but the performance they gave contained much more humor than any renditions I have seen; the actors emphasized many lines, mostly sexual, that had been so unobtrusive in other performance, that I’d never noticed them. The minimal setting and props also seems more realistic from when Shakespeare’s plays and theater traveled through Europe.

The actual dialogue of the play struck me the most, because even though it was the same script, it seemed less pretentious than usual, and the flamboyant, often crude tones of voice and gestures only added to that feeling; however strange this sounds, it seems more accurate. Shakespeare wrote and performed for mass audiences, not just the elite, and that relatability and humor inclusive manner of performing would be key to keeping everyone interested and happy.

The performance was great, and the message we’ve become so accustomed to was given a new twist. Even the thought of a Romiet and Juliet, a Romeo and Julio or a Romiet and Julio was enough to drive home the idea of respecting, expecting and accepting diverse couples with love ultimately being the only important issue.

As a rose by any other name sounds as sweet, love, in any form it takes, remains as pure and strong.

Now I ask you… wasn’t that a great review?

~~EK