Romeo and Juliet in the Redwoods

For the second year in a row, I had the pleasure of attending Shakespeare Santa Cruz on the UCSC campus when M and I went to see "Romeo and Juliet" last Thursday, Aug. 14. Last year, we saw "The Tempest," which I had never seen as a production, theater or film, other than the very strange "Prospero's Books" movie took much patience to sit through!

Surprisingly, I have never before this actually seen a live staged performance of Shakespeare's most popular play, R&J, only movie versions, my favorite of which will forever be the DiCaprio/Danes movie! Perhaps the movie itself prepared me a bit for this production, as it too was slightly adapted to fit a more modern - though still distant - setting; the director, Kim Rubinstein, placed her star-crossed lovers and their ill-fated families in a Budapest-like environ, complete with Hungarian gypsy music and gypsy-inspired costumes for the cronies of both the Capulet and Montague gangs-- Mercutio, Benvolio, Tybalt, as well as Romeo were excellently captured as young, restless, and violent.

The best part about Shakespeare Santa Cruz is that the stage and seating are all completely immersed in the beautiful tall redwoods, and as the play goes on, the night around you gets blacker and blacker, and you are literally in the middle of the forest, just a few feet away from the stage. Another fabulous part was that part of the set was in the trees itself -- Romeo has an awesome tree house, replete with bright red curtains billowing in the forest breeze. Also, characters often come in through the isles, so actors are inches away from those sitting in isle seats.

The direction for this performance was really interesting in that it combined the comedic with tragic. Juliet (Caitlin Fitzgerald) was great at capturing a 13-year old in desperate first tragic love. She was funny, jubilant, and innocent, and once the love story becomes more and more of a downer, her heartfelt misery was completely believable. We first meet her as we might any 13-year old girl, listening to music, lost in her own make-believe world, drawn out of its childish comforts by her overbearing (and stick-thin!) mother and loving nurse, who introduces young Juliet to the world of womanhood by shaving her legs and armits as Juliet giggles in surprise.

At the party where Juliet meets Romeo, Juliet sings "Dream a Little Dream" for her parents' guests, an original and sweet modern moment that infuses this 400+ year-old play with a little contemporary charm.

When Romeo and Juliet first clasp eyes, the world stands still - literally. The party goers go into slow motion, a clever stage effect, capturing that feeling of being alone in the world with one's beloved. The lovers' kisses throughout the play are so smoldering that the freeeezing Santa Cruz night got hot !

Romeo (Charles Pasternak) was swarthy, moody, and really sexy, a reminder of a young Joaquin Phoenix mixed with Heath Ledger. We watch him evolve from a horny teenager, wanting to get in Rosaline's pants, to a love-struck young man, and finally to a heartbroken husband.

The rest of the cast was really great, especially the Prince, the voice of reason and authority, and Mercutio, flamboyant, loud, funny, and tragic. His death is one of the highlights in this production, the foreshadowing of the unfair calamity that plagues both the Capulet and Montague houses.

The only character who was very miscast was Paris. the actor playing Paris was too flamboyant to be believable as a suitable (read, 'straight') match for Juliet, his voice was weak compared to the strong voices from Romeo, Mercutio, Juliet, and everyone else, and he was completely uncharismatic. I feel very bad for him, because he may be a great actor, but he really stuck out like a sore thumb among the other great talent and chemistry.

I'm posting the picture of the final scene, which is posted on the Shakespeare Santa Cruz website, only because it was a beeeautiful end to this beautiful play about the funny side of love --- how soon poor Rosaline is forgotten; the exciting side of love --- the lust, the romance, the friendship. After Juliet sheathes Romeo's dagger into her broken heart, she falls into death as if into sleep upon her lover and husband's chest. They are lying on top of a marble coffin, which becomes illuminated as everything else goes black. Over them, the Prince ends this tale of woe of Juliet and her Romeo.

The main reason I loved this production, more than the actors themselves (great!) and the setting (fabulous!) was that the actors were able to somehow capture the greatness of Shakespeare's words. The cynical reading of the play may imply that Romeo and Juliet's love is too young and naive to survive, too perfect and ideal, and it must be killed in order to be forever remembered as pure, because had they lived, they would soon realize that their young love was not the stuff that dreams are made of. However, this production captured the sadder view. Romeo and Juliet are two very young, very naive teenagers, but, somehow, against all odds, as their story progresses, we are convinced that theirs is a real love, a mature love, one that is rare and precious in this world of superficial, interest-based relationships.

Here is a great review of the play on playshakespeare.com.