‘Shakespeare’s R+J’ as portrayed by parallel same-sex casts: Female cast
Encompassing brilliant acting and keen character direction, the female cast production of “Shakespeare’s R&J” falls short of a great production in its inability to merge the setting of the adaptation of the classic “Romeo and Juliet” with the content of the play itself.
Through Shakespeare's work, these Catholic school girls are awakened to a love that transcends their time, repressive surroundings and gender.
Cory Johnson
Contributing Writer
“Two households, both alike in dignity” is something that could be said about a play adaptation and its source material, but is not always the case.
Encompassing brilliant acting and keen character direction, the female cast production of “Shakespeare’s R&J” falls short of a great production in its inability to merge the setting of the adaptation of the classic “Romeo and Juliet” with the content of the play itself.
Adapted by Joe Calarco in 1998, the play takes place in a Catholic school classroom.
Set in a wood-floored, wood-furnished and traditional looking room, the cast enters in march step, filing into the class and to their seats in unison.
This setting is reinforced by unison chants of lessons, school bells and sharp inhales as the ladies turn precisely on their seats, reinforcing the oppressive nature of the setting.
After an extended bell and a series of gasps, one long exhale signals the end of the five-minute scene setting and the beginning of the actual story.
With this exhale the girls are free: dancing, playing and singing, until one leaves and retrieves a copy of “Romeo and Juliet” encased in a large, long red cloth.
From this point on the girls act out Shakespeare’s play as if they have been practicing it for months: playing up the wit with hip thrusts, facial expressions and hyperbolic inflection.
This is where the play comes to life, but also where the adaptation falls apart.
The execution of the Shakespeare was superb. Every prop – which only consists of the red cloth and six desks – is used to bring the story of Romeo and Juliet to life. The light and sound changes, at times dramatic, give a setting to the classroom in which the story takes place.
Olivia Luna, fourth-year theater performance major, and Maggie Monk, second-year theater performance major, were nothing short of hysterical; each of their movements flowed naturally and comically vividly with their dialogue.
Their acting ability was only amplified as Luna portrayed the dynamically different, but equally comical, Mercutio and Friar Laurence and Maggie Monk plays the dutiful and talkative nurse.
Direction of all the Shakespearean characters was great. All the characters interacted naturally with each other, executed well by the actors, especially the Nurse and the cast conglomerations of The Prince and Capulet.
But even as these classic characters were portrayed successfully throughout the play, the Catholic students who played them were rarely touched on in the 90-minute production.
Only 12 minutes of the production is the adaptation that is meant to be staged, and the rest is a stripped-down version of Romeo and Juliet. The two sets of characters the actors portray never overlap; the Catholic girls never show themselves in the actions of the Shakespeare characters and vice versa, save for a little bit of writhing and a slightly more youthful take on the dialogue.
With both parts working only side by side each other, never with, the interaction between the setting of the adaptation and the content of the play seems clunky, glanced-over and misplaced.
When viewing this production, one may ask themselves, ‘Why deal with the adaptation at all?’
As stated before, the acting is great, the direction is great and the lights and props work. Why don’t all these things come together to make a great production?
The Shakespeare is really good: Its characters work, its design works, and it’s pretty damn funny. But the setting of a Catholic school with Catholic schoolgirls is flat and contrived.
For those who walk into the Raymond Hodges Theater looking for more than Romeo and Juliet, you will be disappointed. But for those who walk in looking to see something different, this is it: Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet without the stuffy costumes or overly dramatic set and in a minimal, stripped-down form that you’ve probably never seen before.
Upcoming performances
Male Cast
Oct. 2 at 3 p.m., Oct. 6 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 8 at 9:30 p.m.
Female Cast
Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 8 at 7 p.m.
$10 with VCU ID, $25 general admission.
Photos courtesy of Glynn Brannan, VCU Department of Theater
