Theatre Production
Production: Romeo & Juliet
By: William Shakespeare
Director: Des McAnuff
Where: Stratford Shakespeare Festival Of Canada
Run: May 7^th to November 8^th 2008
Theatre: Festival Theatre 

Reviewed By: Kindah Mardam Bey (Ontario Correspondent - Canada) 

Romeo & Juliet, perhaps one of the most difficult of Shakespearean plays to do with an original twist; part of our everyday vernacular, and grade ten High School curriculum, this play about "two star-cross'd lovers" has become as equally identifiable as Da Vinci's Mona Lisa. The problem is that when high art drops in ranks to pop culture you get over-exposure and breaking out of that mould is done by seldom few. Perhaps the last time such a feat was done, one Baz Luhrmann staged fair Verona Miami-style with Claire Danes and Leo DiCaprio. So what did last man standing, of the intended three-way Artistic Director job position, do with R&J? 

Initially the set is decked out in beautiful red brick archways easily identifiable to Italian décor. A trendy moped, circa 1950s hangs in an alleyway, a couple of white awnings and outside bistro sets complete this European feel to the start of the play. A huge glowing orb hangs overhead and appears to be lit within; it glows yellows and blues and beautiful hues of reds and oranges. Attire appears to be somewhat blended from the 1940s to the 1970s, but then the first altercation between the Capulets and the Montagues is decidedly violent with machine guns reminiscent of the 1980s and militia men dressed akin to Mussolini's rule, start to litter the stage. If you are scratching your head, it's OK to; the patchwork of 20^th Century fashion archives was lost as soon as Romeo and his band of brothers dress for the masquerade ball, where traditional tights and puffy sleeves were in abundance. The rest of the play was performed in Elizabethan costumes until the very last scene where the families discover the tragedy that took place in the mausoleum.

I found the machine guns jarring and so did the youths experiencing their first glance at Shakespeare through this CSI lens. Society is so infused with violence on screen that using such shock tactics in theatre loses the impact of what the play is about; it was a delight to go back to the rapier post-masquerade ball. Aside from the pyrotechnics, the other briefly disturbing part is when we first see Romeo, and as he speaks of his sweet Rosaline he appears to be leering at a group of very young girls in catholic school uniforms, playing with their iPods (will the time warp ever end?!). Yes, Juliet is supposed to be ‘not yet fourteen,' and Romeo a few years older then her, but this version flirts with indecency as Romeo looks in his mid-twenties and Juliet is played in all form as a young teen. The Catholic school girls appear to reinforce the idea that Romeo is not the cool ‘older boy,' but almost lascivious in his intentions.  

Aside from these few odd pairings at the start of the play, we are soon transformed back into the romance and traditional format of Romeo & Juliet with grand costumes and an irate Nurse (as per usual, Lucy Peacock was phenomenal). The strength of performances was also seen in Evan Buliung's Mercutio. Buliung seems to go from strength to strength, first as Petruchio in a fabulous production of Taming Of The Shrew this year, to Romeo's most charismatic friend Mercutio. Peter Donaldson as Friar Laurence was delightful, wise, and flawed in his best of intentions; Donaldson held all the romance of this play with every word he uttered. The only time the theatre fell into complete silence was when Donaldson gave the speech of Friar Laurence to Romeo, demanding he act like a man after the murder of Tibault.

Sadly, Romeo and Juliet lacked any chemistry. Nikki M James as Juliet brought a weak performance to the stage; I can only hope she brings her ‘A' game to Caesar and Cleopatra later in the season where she plays across from Christopher Plummer. Gareth Potter was a well executed Romeo, and I'm pleased to see a Stratford regular gain the role, as opposed to an import, but as the play is very much balanced between the two leads, Potter had both his performance to carry and some of his counterparts. However, with that said, I have to be honest enough to turn around and say that a clear dozen women around me were weeping by the end of the play; I guess for some, chemistry was to be had.  

Going into Romeo and Juliet you know it is Shakespeare's pulp fiction, the cotton candy for the Shakespearean soul, so I believe stalwart theatre-goers will avoid R&J like the plague, whereas those who know little about the subject of the Bard, will see this production above all others because of its cultural impact, and digestible storyline.