By: Tim Donahue
Western’s College of Fine and Performing Arts presented its performance of “Romeo and Juliet” to students and enthusiasts alike on the night of Oct. 14. This performance boasted a reimagining of the classic play with the promise that each night would be “a unique experience.”
“Romeo and Juliet” is not exactly a new story to any of us. Written in the 16th century and constantly revamped and remade through film and stage adaptations, the challenge of Romeo and Juliet — like many of Shakespeare’s plays — has become to find a new angle to bring such ancient themes into modern day relevance. To toy with the language is blasphemy, so this production, like many prior modernizations, made their mark through production design and costuming.
The set was touted as a minimalist design, which boiled down to a massive sheet that covered the stage with objects placed underneath for texture and projections displayed over the top for detail. It was an inspired choice, at once versatile and able to evoke hyper-specific imagery. It would have been a welcome addition if it didn’t seem to be intended to serve as a blank canvas to allow for display of the costuming.
Every character, save for the parents, was dressed in intricately patterned tights. Skin-tight outfits of neon colors and modern patterns; Romeo was shirtless and Paris wore what looked like a purple cup. It was the costuming, something so potentially additive, that served as a detractor that not only took the attention from the elegance of the set and performances, but also gave the actors another hurdle to surmount in order to get the audience to take them seriously. There was obvious intent behind the athleisure aesthetic that they achieved, rainbow and neon brought a lively update to the clothing of Shakespeare’s time — but there was an assumption of ignorance that came with the forced color and shock of the look, it was as if they assumed that audience members couldn’t remain interested in the play without an added layer of shock value.
These stated changes were a mixed bag for me. Some bolstered the strong performances and some seemed to go as far as to detract from the material. Let’s get onto the best of all its features: the performances.
Both Romeo and Juliet are dynamic in their roles. Having the entire play revolve around them, they are at once anguished, childish, playful, and remarkably tender. They hold the rest of the actors up to a standard of deep respect and control of the material, and the whole play is elevated because of it. Aside from the two leads, Friar Lawerance and Juliet’s nurse stood out with layered performances that brought levity as much as they did tragedy.
Western’s production of “Romeo and Juliet” wasn’t without its detractions, but even those came from a place of clear artistic intent. The performances were professional, the set design was interesting, and each facet of the play’s production brought more for me to think about.