Romeo & Juliet @ Shakespeare Theatre
Sep. 17th, 2008 08:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
orangerfulOn Sunday night I saw the performance of Romeo and Juliet at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington D.C.. This place has never let me down. I'll admit, I was not 100% on Sunday night, after the long evening before that of Rocking and Rumming. But after some chorizo at Jaleo, I got a second wind (well, first wind actually).
Sunday was actually preview night, so apparently members of the media were there. There was a table set up in the lobby of the Sidney Harman Hall and folders were being handed out. Nothing special for Susan and I though, we are just normal theater goers. haha.
First of all, the reconfigured the entire staging area (apparently known as the "thrust configuration" if I was a theatre buff). It was so cool. I started to walk down the steps to find our usual seat and when I looked up I was like "whoa!". It was almost a theater in the round sort of setting. It felt as though they were trying to recreate the Globe, with the audience surrounding the players and the players within reach of the crowd.
That wasn't the only bit of the play that harkened back to Shakespeare's time. This production was all men. Yeah, I was worried at first - all men? Like a drag show? But no, it was just men playing women, the way a man might play a bartender or a woman might play an archeologist. Just another role. According to the playbill, the director decided to try this because of how much emphasis R&J puts on "manliness". (I'll admit, I haven't seen R&J since I was forced to read it in school and they made us watch the Zefferelli movie. Most of my knowledge of the play comes from Shakespeare in Love, which also focuses on the whole "men only" aspect of the society. I try not to think too much about the love story, because when you live in a society where you die at 40, I guess 14 would be the best time to settle down.)
I really enjoyed the show. It was easy to tell that some were uncomfortable with the men playing women, as they snickered at the wrong moments. I felt the actors did a fantastic job all around, so it was no fault of theirs. James Davis' Juliet was very much a spazzy 14-year old girl, jumping and skipping about. Finn Wittrock as Romeo also captured the youthfulness of his character. I think we tend to forget that Romeo and Juliet are barely adults, and they are still trying to figure themselves out as well as understand their families and their issues.
Of course, my favorite is Mercutio -- Aubrey Deeker. He's a regular at the STC and he always does a great job, whether he's playing comedy or drama. Mercutio is a great mix, and he played him as both the class clown/frat boy and the young man losing his best friend to romance. I thought his take on the death scene (whoops, spoiler!) was very well done.
Anyway, in Shakespeare's time, this performance would be nothing to blink at, as women were not allowed near the stage. But in 2008, the role of women being played by men feels so shocking. Yet the Shakespeare Theatre Company pulls it off as though it was 1660 yet underneath it all is a dash of 2008...it's hard to describe. Another job well done by the men (and there must be some women backstage!) of the STC!
(FYI: the dress Juliet is wearing in the photo that is on the STC site is not Juliet's dress. It's actually Lady Montague's dress. Guess they were not done with the wardrobe when the photographer arrived. So don't judge the costumes by that photo! Lady Montague is not the same size/proportions as Juliet)
Sunday was actually preview night, so apparently members of the media were there. There was a table set up in the lobby of the Sidney Harman Hall and folders were being handed out. Nothing special for Susan and I though, we are just normal theater goers. haha.
First of all, the reconfigured the entire staging area (apparently known as the "thrust configuration" if I was a theatre buff). It was so cool. I started to walk down the steps to find our usual seat and when I looked up I was like "whoa!". It was almost a theater in the round sort of setting. It felt as though they were trying to recreate the Globe, with the audience surrounding the players and the players within reach of the crowd.
That wasn't the only bit of the play that harkened back to Shakespeare's time. This production was all men. Yeah, I was worried at first - all men? Like a drag show? But no, it was just men playing women, the way a man might play a bartender or a woman might play an archeologist. Just another role. According to the playbill, the director decided to try this because of how much emphasis R&J puts on "manliness". (I'll admit, I haven't seen R&J since I was forced to read it in school and they made us watch the Zefferelli movie. Most of my knowledge of the play comes from Shakespeare in Love, which also focuses on the whole "men only" aspect of the society. I try not to think too much about the love story, because when you live in a society where you die at 40, I guess 14 would be the best time to settle down.)
I really enjoyed the show. It was easy to tell that some were uncomfortable with the men playing women, as they snickered at the wrong moments. I felt the actors did a fantastic job all around, so it was no fault of theirs. James Davis' Juliet was very much a spazzy 14-year old girl, jumping and skipping about. Finn Wittrock as Romeo also captured the youthfulness of his character. I think we tend to forget that Romeo and Juliet are barely adults, and they are still trying to figure themselves out as well as understand their families and their issues.
Of course, my favorite is Mercutio -- Aubrey Deeker. He's a regular at the STC and he always does a great job, whether he's playing comedy or drama. Mercutio is a great mix, and he played him as both the class clown/frat boy and the young man losing his best friend to romance. I thought his take on the death scene (whoops, spoiler!) was very well done.
Anyway, in Shakespeare's time, this performance would be nothing to blink at, as women were not allowed near the stage. But in 2008, the role of women being played by men feels so shocking. Yet the Shakespeare Theatre Company pulls it off as though it was 1660 yet underneath it all is a dash of 2008...it's hard to describe. Another job well done by the men (and there must be some women backstage!) of the STC!
(FYI: the dress Juliet is wearing in the photo that is on the STC site is not Juliet's dress. It's actually Lady Montague's dress. Guess they were not done with the wardrobe when the photographer arrived. So don't judge the costumes by that photo! Lady Montague is not the same size/proportions as Juliet)
