Romeo and Juliet: Convincing from start to kiss
By Allison Hurwitz
Issue date: 4/7/08 Section: Entertainment
|
The Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival offers theatergoers welcoming presentations of William Shakespeare's best known plays, including Romeo and Juliet.
Established in 1989 as the Red Heel Theater, the festival underwent a name and purpose change in 1993. Now as the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, it is the only local theater group in which all productions are dedicated to Shakespeare and his works.
Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" tells the story of the "star-crossed lovers" whose short lived romance ends in their deaths and a truce between their feuding families. Romeo Montague (David Raphaely) falls easily in and out of love, often becoming obsessed with object of his affection.
Juliet Capulet (Melissa Dunphy) is the 13 year old beauty who has already been offered to Paris (Steve Kuhel).
When the two barely meet at a masked ball, the impetuous Romeo falls for Juliet and bloodshed abounds.
While record of this story can be dated to the 15th century, some elements must be credited directly to Shakespeare. Most noteworthy of Shakespeare's additions to the story was his use of secondary characters, such as the Nurse (JJ Van Name) and Mercutio (Damon Bonetti).
The setting of the play was minimal, yet practical. Composed of just a stone floor, two sets of pillars, and a few sets of stone steps, the set was somewhat dull.
No large props were added throughout the production, so this practically bare room served as the outdoors, Juliet's room and balcony, Friar Lawrence's (Buck Shirner) cell, and the like. This set left much to the imagination.
The goal of the director Carmen Khan was to create a "visual metaphor." Visually, the set could have had more to help the audience to get drawn into the performance.
A decision that cannot be defended by practicality is that of the costume design. The choice for costume design is interesting and confusing. The costumes are not of the period. The men in leading roles, as well as Lady Capulet (Christie Parker) and Lady Montague (Kelly Jennings) wore contemporary clothing. It is unclear what style of costume Juliet's would fall under as she wore several pieces that could be attributed to different periods. One costume decision that was bothersome to me was the use of tie-dye. The people of Verona wore plain costumes that were very lightly tie-dyed.
Be the first to comment on this story