Last night, a friend and I traveled to BUCKNELL to see a production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet put on by THE ACTING COMPANY. The Acting Company is a theatre group co-founded by John Houseman. Its alumni include Kevin Kline, Rainn Wilson and Mark Moses.
Romeo and Juliet may have been the first Shakespeare play I ever saw performed. During my sophomore year in high school, a teacher took our English class to Allentown to see the 1968 MOVIE VERSION directed by Franco Zeffirelli. I don't recall if we read the entire play in class or maybe just parts of it.
A few years later, while doing my JYA at Leeds, I saw the play as staged by the ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY. (As fate would have it, they are doing it again THIS SEASON. The trailer looks rather interesting.) I saw the play in 1987, at the Barbican in London. It had moved there after being done at Stratford the year before. Here are some notes regarding the production, which was directed by Michael Bogdanov:
So, if you're reading carefully, you realize that I may have read Romeo and Juliet twice but really can't remember. I didn't have time to read it a third (or possibly a first) time before going to see the production at Bucknell. So, I'll give my impressions of that now. Then, I'll attempt to read the play and post my thoughts on that separately.
The staging made use of a single set with a bench being moved around as needed. Near the end, a bed was brought on stage. The actors dressed in costumes out of the early 20th Century. I can't think of any particular reason to set it there, although it didn't detract from the production. One of the earlier RSC productions made note of dressing the Montagues and Capulets in similar clothing to emphasize that one family was no different than the other. Maybe that's what the director was going for here.
This production (especially the first half) had a very bawdy tone, highlighted by Mercutio. The actor who played him had great presence and moved fluidly around the stage. The nurse also did well in bringing out the bawdy nature of her character. The actor who played Romeo was very expressive and handled the role well. Juliet, unfortunately, not so much. I think my main complaint is that while the first half moved along nicely (intermission followed immediately after the death of Tybalt), the second half seemed to drag. Maybe that's just the nature of the play since, once Tybalt dies, Romeo is banished and the lovers are soon separated and left to anguish alone.
The tragedy here is that Romeo and Juliet are both too young and too caught up in their passion to realize that banishment could have been the best thing ever to happen to them. After Romeo kills Tybalt and is banished by the prince, he whinges about having to leave Verona. In short, he fails to realize that it's a big world out there and, instead, can't imagine life outside Verona worth living - especially if Juliet is still in Verona.
For her part, Juliet really drops the ball. She knows that Tybalt is dead and pretends to care, but really she's upset because Romeo is banished. This is when her father issues the ultimatum: Marry Paris or get out of my house. Well, there's your out, honey! Defy daddy and have the friar help you get out of town so you can be with Romeo in Mantua. But, no! Juliet and the friar concoct this fake suicide plan which, as we all know, ends badly. Why not just skip the fake suicide and go right to Mantua? She would have had to wait a day or two at most. Then, daddy banishes Juliet, she wanders to the edge of the city where Romeo picks her up, and they live happily ever after.
But, no. Passion overrules common sense where everyone is concerned, and it takes the deaths of two young people to restore sanity.