The set. Photo: T. Charles Erickson |
By Lauren Yarger
A dark, modern-age Romeo
and Juliet takes the stage in Darko Tresnjak’s neorealism production
featuring a gravel pit. Wherefore, I am not exactly sure. (And for your non
Shakespeare types, “wherefore” doesn’t mean “where,” but “why?”
The pit sits down center on the set designed by Director
Tresnjak featuring a massive mausoleum backdrop with reams of square crypts, whose
dark and gloom (thanks to excellent lighting by Matthew Richards) can’t be
masked by flowers adorning them (or by cheerful maidens who swing by on a
rolling ladder to keep the blooms fresh). A slab juts out to create the famous
balcony –significant that the few moments of joy experienced by the young couple
(on Shakespeare’s pages, if not effectively portrayed here) spring from death.
The set becomes almost a character itself in Tresnjak’s
tribute to the look of 1940s Italian films which focused on shapes and colors
from daily life (Costume Designer helps create the feel with period-looking
suits, hats and simple dresses and negligees). We’re just not entirely sure why
it is the focus of the Bard’s classic tale of crossed lovers.
At first impression the pit, with its drains in the
surface of tile surrounding it, looks like a rock-filled version of the pool in
Metamorphoses. It’s not filled
with water (the drains later prove to be vents for fog) or even with blood, as I
might have expected after seeing Ivo
van Hove’s tense adaptation of A
View from the Bridge on Broadway in which barefoot characters ended up in a bloody heap in a similar pit.
Romeo and Juliet’s Verona, Italy pit just
offers rocks (and a couple of times an ornate slab arises from them to offer a
platform for staging). I winced when a few barefooted actors walk through them
and pondered the significance of crunching as others walked on the stones with footwear
(Sound Design by Jane Shaw, who also provides sound effects like cars
driving by or party revelry to enhance the scenes), but alas, methinks I never
did get it, even when a character rode around it on a bicycle.
So I focused
instead on one of my favorites of Shakespeare’s tragedies, the tale of woe
about Juliet (Kaliswa Brewster) and her Romeo (Chris Ghaffari) and found it fairly
uneven. Some performances are strong and bring delight. Charles Janasz is an
amusing Friar Laurence and so commands the stage with his presence that the
character becomes a central part of the story, rather than just a necessary prop
to bring the lovers to their deaths.
Ghaffari is a handsome Romeo and in one inspired moment when Tresnjak has
him sit among the audience to view the Capulet party at which he first spots
Juliet, he wins our hearts with genuine charm. Timothy D. Stickney and Celeste
Ciulla give fine turns as Juliet’s parents (even if Ciulla doesn’t look old
enough to be the mother of Brewster, who doesn’t look 14) as do Alex Hanna as
Romeo’s friend and cousin Benvolio, Julien Seredowych as a particularly swarthy
Paris whom Juliet’s parents want her to wed and whom we rarely think so much
about, and Jonathan Louis Dent as Juliet’s menacing cousin Tybalt, whose death
ends with Romeo’s being banished by Prince Escalus (Bill Christ) and triggers a sad ending for the
star-crossed lovers.
Kaliswa Brewster and Chris Ghaffari |
The fight scenes (using
knives rather than swords, to be true to the period for this production) are
directed by Steve Rankin and
lack realism or excitement in their staging. Also falling flat is Brewster’s
Juliet as she recites lines in a monotone. We never see her passion for Romeo, feel
her despair at being forced to wed Paris or enjoy much of the meaning in
Shakespeare’s text. A line like “Thy lips are warm!” -- usually pregnant with despair, grief and
astonishment -- simply gets uttered as part of some dialogue delivered without
intonation (Voice and Text Coaching by Claudia Hill-Sparks).
The death of Mercutio (Wyatt Fenner) is over dramatic. Juliet’s
nurse (Kandis Chappell), is an enigma
as she is played contrary (though well) to expectations. Usually she is a
portly, jovial sort offering friendship and comfort to Juliet – and much of the
play’s humor. Here, she is thin, elegant and regal -- almost more so than Lady
Capulet. She is serious, a second mother to Juliet, and her humor is lost to
the somber feel of the production.
Romeo and Juliet plays through March 20 at Hartford Stage, 50 Church St., Hartford. Performances are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday evenings at 7:30 pm.; Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm; Saturdays and Sundays at 2 pm. Special matinee 2 pm Wednesday, Feb. 24. Tickets $25-$95. (860) 527-5151; www.hartfordstage.org.
Special events:
- AfterWords Discussion Tuesdays, Feb. 23 and March 1 and Wednesday, Feb. 24. Join members of the cast and the artistic staff for a free discussion, immediately following select 7:30 pm. performances on Tuesday or the Wednesday matinee.
- Open Captioned Performances, Feb. 28, 2 and 7:30 pm for patrons who are deaf or have hearing loss.
- Audio Described Performance, March 5 at 2 pm. For patrons who are blind or have low vision.
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