Is there anyone who doesn’t know the story of Romeo and Juliet, the young star-crossed lovers? The challenge for a director, then, is how to retell the story to appeal to a younger audience.
Director Sam Gold’s staging of “William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet” at Circle in the Square seems to have done just that. Usually the Wednesday matinee crowd is older and retired, so it was a pleasant experience to see so many young people in the theater during the matinee. The audience added its own energy to the planned havoc onstage.
In a great part, the show succeeds because of Kit Connor (“Heartstopper”) as Romeo. Connor does a fine job and his English accent works naturally with Shakepeare’s prose. Looking particularly ‘swoon-worthy,’ he has audience appeal and many reacted audibly when he leaped into a pull-up to kiss Juliet (Rachel Zegler) in her bed hanging above the stage.
Rachel Zegler (“The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes”) is lovely as Juliet, but acting isn’t her strength. She’s a better singer and Gold gives her an opportunity to perform a song or two written by Jack Antonoff and delights the audience. The love scenes are tasteful and sweet, but it’s Connor whom the audience responds to (Intimacy director- Claire Warden)
Gold has several of the actors play multiple roles, double-cast in cross-gender roles. Playing several parts, Gabby Beans( “Succession” “House of Cards,””Jonah”) is strong and steady, lending gravitas, and serving as a narrator as well as a character.
Sola Fadiran makes the audience smile as Juliet’s mother but also makes it quake as Juliet’s father when he threatens his daughter for not agreeing to marry the suitor he has chosen. Tommy Dorfman is outstanding in the comic role of the nurse, Juliet’s garrulous caretaker, but then transforms into the belligerent Tybalt whose death begins the tragic chain of events.
The rest of the ensemble play friends and family members and perform well, especially in the fight scenes. (Violence- Drew Leary) The performers move energetically around the stage. Like the young actors, the action is constant, almost chaotic .
The theater space of Circle in the Square demands creativity. Recently Sam Gold thrilled audiences with his version of “An Enemy of the People” and his ingenuity is evidenced here as well. Shows like “Romeo and Juliet” present unique challenges for modern directors. There’s the language which is always a challenge. But it’s also how to make it work for a modern audience without butchering it. The challenge is how to take something so familiar but not have it be ordinary. Gold accomplishes that with the double casting as well as the simplistic, yet creative staging. At one point the stage floor rises and folds over, presenting what appears to be a soft field. The stage is filled with familiar, common objects that modernize the play, items that didn’t exist in Shakespearean England, a huge stuffed animal and overturned shopping cart, backpacks and clothing in neon colors.
Gold has figured it out- how to get young people to the theater even though the story is old (read that as timeless.) Show the audience something and someone they can recognize and they will come. The best sign of success was probably the line of fans that waited at the stage door to see the stars after the show while we dashed to make our train.
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