Romeo and Juliet at Parker Theatre

My least favorite Shakespeare play is Romeo and Juliet but I decided to see a production at Parker Theatre last night because my friend Karen highly recommended it and I have really come to love this theatre. They did some interesting things with it and I actually liked it! The Montagues and Capulets are two noble families of Verona who have an ancient grudge against one another that escalates when Tybalt (Zachary Ballard), a Capulet, and Benvolio (Brendan Hanks), a Montague, get into a fight on the street. They are warned by the Prince (Lucas Charon) to stop disrupting the peace with their feud or face severe consequences. Soon Romeo (Dallin Suman), a Montague, and Juliet (Isabelle Purdie), a Capulet, fall in love and secretly wed despite the fact that their families are enemies. However, they find themselves in a hopeless situation after Romeo kills Tybalt to avenge the death of his friend Mercutio (Spencer Hohl). Romeo is banished and Juliet's family forces her to marry Paris (Michael Kelly) so Friar Lawrence (Palmer Scott) devises a plan for them to be together but it ends in tragedy which ultimately leads to peace between Montague (Bryson Dumas) and Capulet (Joseph Kyle Rogan). Some creative liberties are taken with the original text and, while I am usually not a fan of doing that, I think the changes make the play more accessible. My audience responded with lots of laughter to many of the anachronistic ad-libs and to the updated character of the Nurse (Madeline Thatcher) who seems more like a sympathetic friend to Juliet rather than a caregiver. I also really liked the update to Tybalt's character because he seems incredibly volatile and irrationally angry at all of the Montagues and this serves to emphasize that the division between the two families is groundless and unreasonable. There is also an interesting twist involving Lady Montague (Missy Stebbing) that adds to the devastation in the final act. I was quite impressed with many members of the cast. Purdie, especially, gives a highly nuanced performance (a highlight of the show for me) that brilliantly showcases Juliet's arc. She is a young and naive girl when the audience first meets her but she visibly matures over the course of the play and her performance in the scenes where she mourns the death of Tybalt and discovers Romeo's dead body in the tomb is truly heartbreaking. As previously mentioned, Thatcher provides a lot of comic relief with her interactions with Juliet but her discovery of Juliet's lifeless body is incredibly affecting. I always think of Romeo as feckless (which is why I find the play to be so problematic) but Suman really leans into his immaturity, especially in the scene where the Nurse demands that a sniveling Romeo go to Juliet after the death of Tybalt (it is so powerful), and this interpretation worked for me. I also liked Hohl's Mercutio because he gives the character a swagger to match his wit. The beautiful set is another highlight of this production and I especially loved the symmetry of the balconies, arches, columns, and staircases on either side of the stage to represent the two houses. The fight choreography uses the various levels very effectively to add visual interest. Speaking of which, I was particularly struck by the lighting design in this show, which is unusual for me, because it creates so many beautiful vignettes (the wedding scene is gorgeous). Even if you are not a fan of this particular play I definitely recommend getting a ticket to this imaginative retelling (go here). It runs through September 2 with performances on Friday and Saturday evenings and Saturday matinees.