Involved and Engaged by Andrew
Romeo and Juliet
The Aquila Theatre Company’s adaptation of Romeo and Juliet caught me by surprise. I was expecting something that might be a little more drab, less colorful, “modern”, etc. etc. Instead I found myself eagerly engaged the entire time. Not since I have read Shakespeare’s original Romeo and Juliet have I been so awed by someone’s interpretation of the play itself. This was not drab and was far from a bore to watch and be taken in by. Most interestingly was the, once again, obvious levels of dedication and commitment to their art and the enjoyment they had on stage!
As usual it is hard not to harp on about commitment and dedication, so it should come as no surprise that every group including the Aquila Theatre Company have helped to showcase the best of the best in their fields (or at least the best suited for the tasks at hand). What made this group so much more unique, though, came from the fact that each one of the cast had to have every part memorized. This in itself would be worthless if they didn’t go out into the audience and have their roles drawn! It was a random audience member doing a random drawing and it was apparent that it wasn’t “fixed” by the fact that sometimes the same role would be drawn for one cast member that was already picked from someone else’s basket. Equally as impressive was the fact that it was an equal chance that a man would get to play Juliet and a woman could play Romeo (although this didn’t happen for our production). Truly an incredibly random spectacle that allowed us as an audience to gain more from watching their production and walk away with a sense that we had a hand in how the production was ran and what was going to happen during the production. Interestingly enough, this cast of 6 actors (4 male, 2 female) told us afterwards that they were also doing another play in which they had to have all of those lines memorized. Simply mind blowing to know that a group of 6 had lines memorized for not just one challenging play, but two!
One of the things that really brought out the enjoyment of the play was the fact that they were actually funny! I have never seen such a comical rendition of Romeo and Juliet before. A great deal came from the assigned roles in which a male was assigned as the nurse to Juliet. Coming across as more crude and frank, this male “female” nurse would go on and on and on about the same thing, making the audience laugh and jest alongside him. Another feature that brought out a great response was the vivid action and reactions. The nurses wild hand gestures, sometimes rather obscene, or Juliet’s little fits of eagerness brought a new, human, dimension to the stage. Instead of actors playing the roles, it appeared to be the roles being shown to the audience through such vivid and exaggerated motion. Rather then forced actions and words, this cast seemed to have a very strong flow and understanding of each others actions giving a very unusually human feel to their acting. One of the examples would come at the very end with Paris’ death, Romeo’s suicide, and then Juliet’s suicide. A very real fight scene turned into a bloodbath, for Paris, which in turn caused the actor playing Romeo to discover who he had killed and then laying his eyes of Juliet. He naturally gravitated to Juliet and seeing her “dead” found the strength to kill himself to meet her in Heaven. Then when Juliet awakens and sees Romeo dead and the voices of her parents/guards descending into the tomb, such naturally avoids such a life without Romeo and kills herself with his dagger.
Such scenes on the stage made everything more natural and gave all the more merit to their skills. While I initially worried that it might be dull or boring, I was quickly disproving! Such an incredible array of talent, comedy, and tragedy came together to make this one of the most interesting Romeo and Juliet plays I have ever seen. With an audience involved approach and great acting the actors had managed to captive all of us and then continue on to make the entire thing seem human. I equally enjoyed the discussion afterwards that revealed information about the actors and the fact that they did another play in this exact manner, only reinforcing the hard-work and dedication notation. If I had to see it again, I would definitely would go and also encourage my friends to come as well so that they could experience what it felt like to see actors portraying real human roles and to get a chance to be part of the production.
The Aquila Theatre Company’s adaptation of Romeo and Juliet caught me by surprise. I was expecting something that might be a little more drab, less colorful, “modern”, etc. etc. Instead I found myself eagerly engaged the entire time. Not since I have read Shakespeare’s original Romeo and Juliet have I been so awed by someone’s interpretation of the play itself. This was not drab and was far from a bore to watch and be taken in by. Most interestingly was the, once again, obvious levels of dedication and commitment to their art and the enjoyment they had on stage!
As usual it is hard not to harp on about commitment and dedication, so it should come as no surprise that every group including the Aquila Theatre Company have helped to showcase the best of the best in their fields (or at least the best suited for the tasks at hand). What made this group so much more unique, though, came from the fact that each one of the cast had to have every part memorized. This in itself would be worthless if they didn’t go out into the audience and have their roles drawn! It was a random audience member doing a random drawing and it was apparent that it wasn’t “fixed” by the fact that sometimes the same role would be drawn for one cast member that was already picked from someone else’s basket. Equally as impressive was the fact that it was an equal chance that a man would get to play Juliet and a woman could play Romeo (although this didn’t happen for our production). Truly an incredibly random spectacle that allowed us as an audience to gain more from watching their production and walk away with a sense that we had a hand in how the production was ran and what was going to happen during the production. Interestingly enough, this cast of 6 actors (4 male, 2 female) told us afterwards that they were also doing another play in which they had to have all of those lines memorized. Simply mind blowing to know that a group of 6 had lines memorized for not just one challenging play, but two!
One of the things that really brought out the enjoyment of the play was the fact that they were actually funny! I have never seen such a comical rendition of Romeo and Juliet before. A great deal came from the assigned roles in which a male was assigned as the nurse to Juliet. Coming across as more crude and frank, this male “female” nurse would go on and on and on about the same thing, making the audience laugh and jest alongside him. Another feature that brought out a great response was the vivid action and reactions. The nurses wild hand gestures, sometimes rather obscene, or Juliet’s little fits of eagerness brought a new, human, dimension to the stage. Instead of actors playing the roles, it appeared to be the roles being shown to the audience through such vivid and exaggerated motion. Rather then forced actions and words, this cast seemed to have a very strong flow and understanding of each others actions giving a very unusually human feel to their acting. One of the examples would come at the very end with Paris’ death, Romeo’s suicide, and then Juliet’s suicide. A very real fight scene turned into a bloodbath, for Paris, which in turn caused the actor playing Romeo to discover who he had killed and then laying his eyes of Juliet. He naturally gravitated to Juliet and seeing her “dead” found the strength to kill himself to meet her in Heaven. Then when Juliet awakens and sees Romeo dead and the voices of her parents/guards descending into the tomb, such naturally avoids such a life without Romeo and kills herself with his dagger.
Such scenes on the stage made everything more natural and gave all the more merit to their skills. While I initially worried that it might be dull or boring, I was quickly disproving! Such an incredible array of talent, comedy, and tragedy came together to make this one of the most interesting Romeo and Juliet plays I have ever seen. With an audience involved approach and great acting the actors had managed to captive all of us and then continue on to make the entire thing seem human. I equally enjoyed the discussion afterwards that revealed information about the actors and the fact that they did another play in this exact manner, only reinforcing the hard-work and dedication notation. If I had to see it again, I would definitely would go and also encourage my friends to come as well so that they could experience what it felt like to see actors portraying real human roles and to get a chance to be part of the production.
posted by ISC On Stage @ 7:31 AM
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