Romeo and Juliet
For the Old Globe, director Richard Seer wisely sets Shakespeare's tragedy in its time. Romeo and Juliet lived when a land-based economy was still the norm. Vows, like marriages and one's social station, were permanent, and their love was absolute. Anna R. Oliver's costumes include the slashed fronts and sleeves of the period. Iron gates and stained-glass windows dominate Ralph Funicello's stained-wood set. And York Kennedy's splendid lighting finds that mystical source, somewhere above and to the side, that illumines the works of Tintoretto and Caravaggio: amid darkness, the lovers glow. Stage pictures resemble paintings. Some echo each other, as when Juliet's hand reaches down for Romeo, from the balcony and from the tomb. But Seer breaks the picture frame, so to speak, when Romeo and Juliet address speeches to the audience. If the choice was meant to endear them to us, they don't need it (I can't think of anyone audiences could care more about). And including us in their private thoughts breaks their tragic isolation. The night I caught the show, Graham Hamilton - and the production overall - settled in about a third of the way through. At first Hamilton dashed off his poetry as if it were prose. Later he hit his accents and began to mean what Romeo meant. Heather Wood not only expresses Juliet's youth and intelligence, she has a naturally melodic voice that only rings false when she tries to add melody to it. The production offers strong visuals, and the story, as so often in Shakespeare, works on elemental levels. But the second half's a mite stately and restrained. It honors the Bard but could improve if it unleashed the tragedy's opera-like impulses. Romeo and Juliet runs in repertory with The Merry Wives of Windsor and All's Well That Ends Well. Call the theater for days and times of each.
Worth a try.
When
Ongoing until Sunday, September 28, 2008
Hours
| Sundays, 8pm |
| Tuesdays, 8pm |
| Wednesdays, 8pm |
| Thursdays, 8pm |
| Fridays, 8pm |
| Saturdays, 8pm |