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R&J

Of all the Shakespeare you've seen, you probably haven't seen anything quite like this.

Saturday May 05, 2001.     By Joseph Bowen

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Apple Tree Theatre, 595 Elm Place, Highland Park
www.appletreetheatre.com
Tickets 847-432-4335
Runs Through October 24 in Highland Park
Open run at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre's studio theatre beginning November 12

Of all the Shakespeare you've seen, you probably haven't seen anything quite like R&J. The show currently playing at Apple Tree Theatre puts a different spin on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and shows us some very fine acting in the process.

Joe Calarco first mounted R&J in New York two years ago to critical acclaim. It was the kind of project that shouldn't have been successful, but it was. In his director's notes, Calarco calls Romeo and Juliet "a fierce, dangerous tragedy about sex, lust, death, violence, betrayal, murder, and teen suicide." Some may disagree, but that is the stance he has taken when directing R&J, which is performed by four young male actors in prep school uniforms. Still with me? Stick around.

Known only as Student 1, 2, 3 and 4, the foursome of Ian Novak, Matt Schwader, Ian Christopher and Michael Gotch assume all the roles in what is essentially an abbreviated version of Romeo and Juliet performed by four prep school boys. We first see these boys entrenched in their prep school rituals, and when one of them produces a text of Romeo and Juliet, they begin to play with the language, and you eventually see these four becoming swept away with the play, until it all but consumes them. Some Shakespeare purists may attack this production for its lack of textual consistency and may disparage the four actors and the director for missing the mark with the language, but if you take into account that what you have is four actors playing students playing Shakespeare, it is very effective. The slant of this production is consistent in that it focuses on things that teenage boys would find important: raging hormones, teenage angst and domineering parents (Capulet is portrayed as a dictatorial monster).

Calarco does a good job adapting the script, concentrating on the pivotal scenes in the play. Where Calarco goes wrong is the overuse of the play's only prop: a red sheet. There are times when it is used effectively, such as to symbolize dresses for the Juliet-Nurse-Lady Capulet scene, and of course to symbolize blood (used most effectively for the deaths of Juliet and Mercutio). But we quickly tire of this. Calarco uses the sheet where no prop is necessary, such as to symbolize a ring Juliet gives the Nurse for Romeo. J. Branson's scenic design is simple and functional, and Jeffrey Lowney's lighting design sets the mood nicely.

Ian Novack plays Romeo as a teenager on the edge, who falls hard when he meets Juliet. Matt Schwader's Juliet is restless, and when she meets Romeo is immediately swept up in what she could have, defying her betrothal to Paris. Thankfully, Calarco did not fall prey to blatant homo-eroticism, and let the development of the love story happen naturally. Their relationship is quite beautiful. Ian Christopher powerfully plays Mercutio, Lady Capulet and Friar Lawrence, among others. Michael Gotch's characterizations of Nurse and Tybalt are impressive.

This may not be the best Shakespeare you have seen, but unlike most of the things I have seen at, say, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, R&J has heart. And that's much more important in my book.

--Joseph Bowen