The accidental music was very much so of the Renaissance period. It was not particularly catchy though and when they turned up the volume it grated on my nerves a bit. I know it's necessary for the dramatic scenes but it wasn't just particularly appealing. It definitely fit in the most during the masque.
I thoroughly enjoyed the sexual innuendo throughout the play. It gave more character to it and a new view into what the Renaissance was like. People weren't always prim and proper. The pop songs of the Renaissance were madrigals and often their subjects were lewd but hidden away in proper metaphors as was demonstrated in the text. The audience was educated in the culture of the time by setting this production of Romeo and Juliet in the Renaissance.
I felt the same way about the comic relief combined with the tragedy. Life is not either or, it's both and therefore the audience experiences both the joy and sorrow experienced by the Montagues and the Capulets.
ROMEO - GRAHAM ABBEY, JULIET - CLAIRE JULLIEN
Both he and Claire Jullien seemed to play their roles with the emotion of teenagers. It made up for the obvious fact that they were older and it allowed them to show just how much Romeo and Juliet grow up. Their portrayals reminded me of how Romeo and Juliet were like in Goodnight Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet. The difference of course was that Graham and Claire don't cross dress.
Anyway, the high emotions and their acting choices made the play unique. Graham was very into the role and he was believable as Romeo. Sure he did much of the same things that Romeos do but each actor performs the role in their own way which makes each portrayal so different.
The most memorable Romeo moment was his tantrum with Friar Laurence after he killed Tybalt. He was enraged and his face was utterly red. I'd say as red as the shade they use on playing cards. At the moment all he cared about was Juliet and his being banished. This incredible pain he felt was expressed plainly. Like any parental figure, Friar Laurence (well played by Keith Dinicol) shot back at Romeo and told him "be a man" and "go comfort your wife". In that second, Romeo understood him and instantly grew up and took responsibility instead of remaining there throwing tantrums like a child. This was an example of how feelings were ejected as he sobbed madly and then considered the advice.
In the tender moments Graham was equally effective. He showed respect for Juliet in that scene in the ballroom where they pressed their palms together. His facial expressions showed that he was enamoured with Juliet and longed to kiss her but would not do so without consent. He dwelled in such a different manner over Rosaline. Rosaline was like a typical first crush but he could actually take action upon his feelings for Juliet.
A dual memorable moment was when Juliet first discovered Romeo beneath her balcony. She squealed with surprise and he ran back and hid at the stairs. It reminded me very much of Les Miserables when Marius and Cosette met in the garden at her house. They were both scared to discover that their heart's desires were answered. Their love grew by the moment and it was easy to be amused by Claire's girlish delight and experimentation of flirting with Romeo. Graham's love profession/bearing of his soul was endearing. He only had eyes for Juliet, had a goofy look on his face, and seemed so genuine.
It was apparent how much Romeo yearned for Juliet as Graham climbed the rope ladder. The ladder was swaying a bit wildly when he first climbed up but he swiftly overcame that and joined Juliet on the balcony. It was quite impressive how quickly he scaled the balcony on the way down.
My comment on the wedding night was that they disappeared behind the curtain and that was it. There was no glimpse into what it was like for them. I don't mean sex scene but rather more of the love talk that added to their chemistry. The audience was left outside curious below the balcony in our seats, without a clue. In a matter of seconds it was daylight and the shift was awkward. There was no talk or anything to illustrate the night's actual passing.
I found a little fault with Claire Jullien's Juliet in that she remained the same and showed no sign of maturing. Yes she had moments in which there were flashes of it (for example the scene where she asked for the potion from Friar Laurence and the part on the balcony after the wedding night) but she never changes. Where I expected her to be stoic and hold onto her faith in the magical potion, she threw herself at her father to beg for forgiveness and consented to marry Paris. It just seems more logical that if their relationship radically changed Romeo, it should be the same for Juliet. The balance was off in this instance. It was later regained in their deaths, both made an immediate decision to commit suicide and did not back out of it.
The child in them both resurfaced in their reactions to the poison and the dagger. Graham did not let the poison affect him immediately. He let it strike as a surprise when he collapsed and struggled vainly to reach for Juliet's hand and eventually die. Claire thrusted the dagger quickly and as the pain was felt I saw this shocked look appear on her face. Her expression seemed to say "oh my God" and then she collapsed onto Romeo.
What I liked about Claire was her expressions and the energy she possessed. A child-like, fantasy-loving, and vibrant Juliet who was noticing more of the world around her, especially boys. She was hardly a girl about to turn fourteen but she had a cute look to her, a round face, and her blonde hair helped to show the innocence necessary to the role.
Upon first meeting Romeo during the masque she exuded chasteness and innocence. The way she said "you kiss by the book" doesn't match my observation though. The way she said it made her look as if she had plenty of experience. She would be the perfect Juliet with her vibrance and energy but the constant jumping from chaste to experience was a little annoying.
All in all, together they had great chemistry and made a great onstage couple.
MERCUTIO - WAYNE BEST
He definitely stole the show. Wayne Best owned the stage whenever he appeared. To draw another comparison to Les Miserables, his Mercutio definitely had a Grantaire complex. Grantaire was the cynical drunk and Wayne's portrayal had elements of that. This production hinted a lot at the possible homosexuality of Mercutio and maybe even his loving Romeo. He swaggered around the stage as a pompous, bawdy friend of Romeo. In other moments he proved to be bipolar like getting so worked up in his speech about Queen Mab.
Queen Mab is associated with dreams and though he had chided Romeo about dreams, moments later he spoke of his own experiences that Queen Mab has given to him in dreamland. So if you were to think of Mercutio as loving Romeo, when he spoke of waking up sweaty and scared, he could be relating his own experience after dreaming of himself and Romeo.
He was the joker and the clown who never cried. Benvolio and Romeo thought that he wasn't seriously injured but even the fool goes away. Wayne Best was equally captivating in his death scene as he was in the funny ones. He said "I was only trying to help" and realized that his loving Romeo in vain and fighting Tybalt was foolish. His feeling spurned made his shouting of "a plague on both your houses" justified. I'm glad that the aspect of Mercutio loving Romeo was expressed because it added to the complexity of the play. I was not sure of an older looking Mercutio but in this case it worked out great.
BENVOLIO - CALEB MARSHALL
The fact that he and Graham Abbey bear a similar resemblance to each other seems to illustrate a closer than usual relationship between Benvolio and Romeo, who also happen to be cousins. I also felt that the resemblance was good since he is the Romeo understudy. I had read in a review that Caleb seemed to bring out Benvolio and make him noticeable. I noticed this especially when comparing Benvolio and Romeo, they are foils to each other. Benvolio looks like he's impenetrable and can't understand Romeo's fluctuating emotions. One moment Romeo's obsessing over Rosaline then he falls in love with Juliet. Benvolio remains in a constant plateau. He surrounds himself with the ever present feud, having fun, and does not love easily, which is a total opposite of Romeo. Together they show how each other are so vastly different and how one must survive in a place like Verona. Benvolio is the one to survive of the two of them.
TYBALT - NICHOLAS VAN BUREK
Although he performed convincingly, his costume and hair just made him like a wuss. He did not exude that villanous air that Tybalts should have. The shoulder length hair was incredibly distracting. He was the only one of the younger males in the cast to have long hair. He stood out but it didn't improve his character. When Juan Chioran played Tybalt in Goodnight Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet, he managed to be more imposing with his long hair and playing the role of Juliet's nurse than Nicholas Van Burek. Having seen Van Burek as Sebastian last season in Twelfth Night, I found myself thinking that if he played Tybalt as he had played Sebastian, I would have liked his Tybalt better. From what I saw today, I felt no malice or thirst for revenge. What he was doing right was showing that he felt superior to the Montagues. If his hair and costume (the orange and black made him look like a cheshire cat) could be changed I think it may improve his portrayal.
NURSE - LALLY CADEAU
She was annoying because she tried too hard to make her voice different. It would have been much more effective if she had just spoke with her actual voice. Sometimes she seemed to garble and rush, making her inaudible. Her acting was fine. She played the Nurse as a jolly, long winded woman who would do almost anything for her mistress. Comic relief seems to be her strong point. The way she teased Juliet seemed to come from her naturally.
THE CAPULETS - JULIA DONOVAN, SCOTT WENTWORTH
I don't have much to say about them but they were very capable. They acted like parents concerned more with an advantageous marriage for their daughter and getting her out of the way. Lady Capulet knew nothing about Juliet and you could feel how little she cared when she said "I'm done with you" to Juliet and refused to help her out of the marriage. As a father, Scott Wentwoth's Capulet was willing to force her to marry Paris even if he had to abuse her.
*NOTES*
Standouts from the ensemble included Courtenay J. Stevens as Peter and Jeffrey Wetsch as Sampson, servants of the Capulets. They bounded onto the stage with energy and took advantage of their time on stage. They brought much merry atmosphere with their comic relief.
I recalled moments where Ross Petty's antics would catch Graham and he would not be able to control himself, which happened in one particular scene today. When the Nurse came to talk to Romeo, Wayne Best acted up once again. Mercutio was rather horny and like his happy self here. He had already induced the audience into laughter, Caleb Marshall and Graham Abbey fell victim next. It was on the line "Will you be dining at your father's?" in which Graham had to pause before responding because he could not stop laughing. From where I was sitting I could see Caleb Marshall and he had to take some time to contain himself too.
The final memorable moment was right after the masque when Benvolio, Mercutio, and a servant were looking for Romeo. It was so unexpected when they bounded down towards the stage from the lobby of the theatre. I was sitting near the action and was excited by this interaction with the audience instead of just having them do it onstage. They played around and pretended to look into the audience for Romeo before going onstage again.
So if you've survived my long winded opinion, I've finally neared the end. At curtain call, people took photos and nobody minded. I snapped a couple myself and hope that they will turn out. Romeo and Juliet was a marvelous experience especially with this unique production. It is definitely worth seeing and feeling the intensity and emotions as well as the comedy.
