It’s the most famous love story of all time. “Romeo and Juliet” has been re-told, spun off, updated and reimagined as: A story about warring street gangs in New York, rival religious factions in Baghdad, garden gnomes, even zombies.
At Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, director Ian Gallanar tells it straight – in Elizabethan dress and as Shakespeare wrote it (with some cuts). For a play this well known, playing it safe could be risky – too familiar, not adventurous enough.
But the current “Romeo and Juliet” is one of the strongest Chesapeake Shakespeare productions yet. This is the 50th production in the company’s 13-year history. It’s a fine introduction to Chesapeake’s new theater and, for younger audiences, to live Shakespeare.
The production’s swift pace is one reason it works so well. In the source that Shakespeare adapted, the action – from love-at-first-sight to double suicide -- spans nine months. Shakespeare made it more urgent and tragic by telling the story at warp speed – everything happens in just five days.
Chesapeake Shakespeare ups the energy, in part, by trimming the script, but also by casting actors who embody their characters’ youthful impulsiveness.David Mavricos’ excellent Romeo and his cronies, James Jager’sBenvolio and Vince Eisenson’sMercutio, horse around like fraternity brothers. Time moves slowly only before Mavricos’ impatient Romeo meets Juliet, back when he’s still mooning over a girl who wants nothing to do with him.
Time zips along after Romeo meets Juliet and fatal combat breaks out between the feuding Capulets and Montagues. Christopher Niebling’s bold fight choreography increases the urgency, and so does Nick Delaney’s bass drum accompaniment.
The trims in the text don’t just speed the pace, however. Trimming some of the scenes with Juliet alters the balance of the play. Juliet is the engine that drives the action in Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy. Not only does she dare to love a man whose very name is anathema to her family, she’s the one who proposes marriage.
Lauren M. Davis brings willpower, intelligence and, once again, youth to the role of Juliet. She also manages to inject freshness into the play’s best-known lines.
Even so, director Gallanar’s cuts make this much more Romeo’s play than Juliet’s. It’s an unusual shift in emphasis. In addition, the flurry of activity on stage can be distracting. The whirl of dancing when Romeo and Juliet first see each other pulls the focus away from this crucial moment. The same thing happens in the turf war that detracts from the fatal wounding of Mercutio.
But the actors’ occasional interaction with the audience in the first half adds immediacy. Several supporting performances do, too, especially Mimsi Janis’ colorful depiction of Juliet’s nurse and Vince Eisenson’s nimble, quick-witted Mercutio.
Chesapeake Shakespeare has a practice of having cast members perform modern pop songs related to the show beforehand and during intermission. The results can vary, but the songs in the “Romeo and Juliet” hit parade – from Lou Reed to Taylor Swift – are well chosen and performed.
“Romeo and Juliet’s” quintessential image is Romeo scaling Juliet’s balcony. You won’t see that here. But you will see a solid production – with a few quirks – that reminds us why, 400 years later, “Romeo and Juliet” remains the greatest, most imitated, love story ever told.
