“It’s filled with all the elements that vibe with hormone-flooded teens – fierce sword fights, love, lust, desire, and great clothes.”
Alethea Mouhtouris
3.5 Stars
Venue: Sydney Opera House
Sydney
Dates: Until December 7th.
It’s been years since I last saw Romeo and Juliet, and that was the gorgeous Baz Luhrmann film version. Before that, it was a theatre production during high school. So, it’s fair to say I was excited to see the Bell Shakespeare production at the Sydney Opera House in the final stage of a three-month tour across most Australian states, with a focus on regional areas.
It’s filled with all the elements that vibe with hormone-flooded teens – fierce sword fights, love, lust, desire, and great clothes.
What I didn’t expect was how I would feel seeing R&J as an … ahem … age-advanced adult, and how the nuances would change so much over time. What an eye-opener!
I heard one audience member say the production was far better than she had expected, and if I was to guess why, it could be because R&J is a young person’s play. It’s filled with extreme hormonal swings of lust and casual aggression, and actions without thought to consequence. Director Peter Evans describes this beautifully: “This play is so famous it can be hard to see it clearly. It is, of course, about love. But more specifically it is concerned with desire. The lovers are full of lust, and this leads to impatience… All the characters are guilty of careless rushing, and Shakespeare weaves this into all aspects of the play.”
The production captures ‘careless rushing’ very well. Ryan Hodson plays Romeo accordingly – hair dishevelled, frenetically leaping across the stage, arms spinning – in fact, almost as Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up. The other boys – Mercutio (Brittany Santagria), Tybalt (Tom Matthews), Benvolio (James Thomassom) – are equally frantic.
Similarly, Juliet (Madeline Li) is driven almost mad with lust and singular purpose: having her Romeo, much like Tinkerbell’s adoration of Pan. There’s a striking dissonance in her portrayal of Juliet – delicacy and fierceness blend to highlight the young teen as a conflicted character ruled by emotion rather than careful thought.
The adults – Capulet (Michael Wahr), Lady Capulet (Adinia Wirasti), and Friar (Khisraw Jones-Shukoor) – are as belligerent and impetuous as the youngsters; in different ways of course, but nonetheless just as, if not more, harmful.
The only calm person is Paris, played by Jack Halabi as a careful, soft-hearted and gentle thinker – the epitome of ‘lover not a fighter’ – except of course he does fight, and even in his last moments, thinks only of Juliet. Perhaps he recognises the danger she’s in as a beautiful only child, potential prey to unscrupulous men. Perhaps he’s actually a controlling stalker, who knows.
As adults, we might look at these behaviours and the inevitably terrible outcomes and understand what the parents were trying to achieve by keeping these two apart. Not so much endorsing the continuation of the feud but understanding that inherent conflict might not be the best way to start a marriage. Our experience tells us how difficult it is to maintain a good relationship under the best of conditions, let alone one fraught with familial enmity. We know lust betrays us. We know in the long run, it’s respect and consistency that makes a relationship, and helps it succeed the inevitable death of wanting to leap on each other’s bones.
It’s why we look at both Romeo and Juliet and think, hmm ok.
It’s also why we look at the Nurse and think, what the actual heck was she thinking in supporting – no, enabling – this relationship which could only ever end badly, whether now or years down the road.
Merridy Eastman plays Nurse exquisitely as a thoughtless and silly fool. Loving, yes, but so flighty and stupid. Eastman captures every scene, not through volume or dramatic action, but for her eloquent and subtle display of silliness in ways that always elicit laughter from the audience. She offers a master class in finesse.
Mercutio’s capricious humour and sudden shifts in mood make him one of the most unpredictable and magnetic characters in R&J. Brittany Santariga is extraordinary in this role, she demands attention, and gets it.
Anna Tregloan deserves acknowledgement for clever costuming. There’s the everyday wear of utilitarian – think black pants, jackets, and army boots – contrasted with a vibrant harlequin, a style based on a classic character from Commedia dell’Arte which is said to have influenced Shakespeare.
Ending the R&J run at one of Australia’s most recognisable landmarks is inspired. It’s an acknowledgement of the boundless reach of this centuries-old play, across ages and locations.
Photo credit: Brett Boardman
Alethea Mouhtouris, Theatre Now
