Romeo and Juliet - Performed by BTE

For the past several years Bloomsburg Theater Ensemble has performed a Shakespeare play. I have been able to attend as a chaperone and drama director for ICS. This year's play is Romeo and Juliet.

Romeo and Juliet has never been one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. I don't particularly like Romeo... or Mecrutio... or Tybalt... or lots of other characters, so it is hard to get emotionally invested in their story. The theme of loving your enemies is overshadowed by that love leading to death - and not loving, sacrificial death. The politics of rival families is often lost when moved to a different era.

When I heard that BTE was performing it in a "Occupy" setting, I was intrigued by the political focus, and interested to see how they did it. I was not disappointed. From the moment we entered the theater, we were immersed in the setting. Tents, handouts, placards, sticky notes... the walls of the auditorium were covered with slogans and cardboard placards. The stage was cluttered and brilliant with Christmas lights and audience members. There were spotlights and mini-stages among the audience. They used the catwalk and ladders as acting space, as well as having any actor who was not involved in the scene come out and watch. It was a feast for the eyes. It was also a feast for the ears. There was live music, captivating songs, chants, and rhythms. And although the script was shortened, it also created beautiful juxtapositions by combining several scenes.

However, there were a few things that because of the setting, I felt became weaknesses. The Capulets, the rich, were strictly the bad-guys; and the Montagues, the disenfranchised, where the good guys. This allowed for censuring the rich and understanding Juliet's feeling of helplessness, but it also made Romeo's demise the fault of the rich, not the outcome of choices his family made. To me, it seemed they were victims of the rich, not victims of both sides refusing to listen to each other. Also because of the modern setting, murder and self-defense are understandable, but the jump to suicide was less so. I could not suspend my disbelief enough to accept it as a "solution" for Romeo and Juliet. In other words, it had to happen because it was Shakespeare, but in our current time, was there really no other option?

The final weakness of the production was also something I appreciated: they had high school student actors. I love high school actors. There is so much potential and energy and so many layers when they act. And it wasn't the high school actors acting skills that was the weakness. Because they were obviously high schoolers, they made the age gap between them and Romeo and Juliet just as obvious. I could not believe Romeo and Juliet were high school age. I didn't believe their young love with all its blindness and irrationality, simply because they were too old. And it was having high school actors that demonstrated the age difference.

I feel harsh in pointing out the weaknesses because I really enjoyed it. I also feel uncharitable in pointing out these things because I know that they threw everything into this play, as they do every play I have seen. These critiques are merely artistic differences, which in no way devalue the play or their performances. This production dulled the dislike for the play and actually made me want to read it again. I laughed. I almost cried. And I cannot emphasize enough how much I loved watching the other actors come on stage and watch the play. The enjoyment and pride on their faces was delightful to watch. I loved being immersed in the setting and hearing the humanity in the face of differing opinions. I was energized by the creativity. It pointed out to me the weakness of directing alone and made me long for a team to build such a rich creative place.