FORTUNE’S FOOL
ROMEO & JULIET
Directed by Jeri
Pitcher; written by William Shakespeare
With: Governor
John Baldacci (by video), Michael Santora, Samuel Shaw, Chris O’Carroll,
Ginna Hoben, Jessica Pohly, Devin Moriarity, Michael Pauley, Frank Omar,
Michael Frishman, and Benjamin Weaver
Presented by the
Theater at Monmouth, based in Monmouth, Maine
Touring Maine from February 24th through March 17th,
2007
Part of Shakespeare in American Communities: Shakespeare for a New
Generation
Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts in cooperation with Arts
Midwest
Reviewed by Laurie
Meunier Graves
“[F]or my mind misgives / Some consequence yet hanging in
the stars / Shall bitterly begin his fearful date…/ But he, that hath the
steerage of my course, / Direct my sail!
—Romeo, from
Romeo and Juliet
In the
Renaissance, Fortune was personified as a rather voluptuous woman, often
naked, balanced gracefully atop a sphere. Nearby was her famous wheel of
fate, which might be influenced either by her or by Providence. Naturally,
devout Christians favored Providence, but there was still room for
speculation that willful, capricious Fortune, as constant as the moon, did
what she wanted without divine interference. Men and women were carried this
way and that by Fortune, sometimes for ill and sometimes for good, all the
while struggling for some modicum of control. Hundreds of years later, the
debate continues except now we frame it as “nature vs. nurture,” but the
question remains the same: How much command do we have of our own lives?
In Shakespeare’s
Romeo and Juliet, the notion of a controlling Fortune, setting forth
a calamitous fate, rolls through the play from the very beginning, indeed in
the opening prologue. Throughout the tragedy, both Romeo and Juliet, despite
their passion for each other, are beset with the premonition that there is
something rotten in the state of Verona, yet the “star-cross’d lovers” are
unable to change their course. While the story might be extremely familiar,
only a theatergoer with a hard heart could be unmoved by Romeo and Juliet’s
plight and how the tight world of their feuding families hems in the young
lovers until death seems like the only option. Theatergoers might also be
forgiven for vainly wishing that, just once, Fortune’s wheel of fate would
turn in Romeo and Juliet’s favor. Alas, it does not.
The Theater at
Monmouth’s fine production of this famous play gives full weight to the
inexorability of fate and its momentum as Romeo and Juliet are propelled to
the final, terrible scene. This particular version, which will be touring
Maine until mid-March, is set in modern times with a pared-down cast and set
suitable for traveling. Because the acting and the directing are, for the
most part, so strong, this streamlined production loses none of its power.
Unfortunately, it does lose some of the richness that a Renaissance setting
and a larger cast would provide, a sense of the contradictions inherent in
the culture, the brutality and the vitality. Nevertheless, this production
is still very much worth seeing.
The play opens in
a way that is either clever or gimmicky, depending on your point of view.
Governor Baldacci, via video, takes us to “fair Verona (Maine), where we lay
our scene.” Soon enough, the Capulets and the Montagues are doing the usual
things that feuding families do—biting their thumbs at each other, clubbing
heads, in short, disturbing the “quiet of [the] streets.” This, quite
naturally, irritates the prince, who is tired of the blood being shed by the
two families. We are given to understand that this has happened before,
three times, to be exact, and the prince’s patience has come to an end. He
lays down the law. “If ever you disturb our streets again Your lives shall
pay the forfeit of the peace.”
Not terribly
chastened by the prince’s edict, Lord Capulet decides to throw a party. On
the list is a certain Rosaline, who, when the play opens, is Romeo’s current
obsession. Unfortunately, the fair Rosaline has no interest in Romeo, who
broods and pines because of this. When he discovers that Rosaline will be at
the Capulets’ party, he decides to go in disguise so that he might catch a
glimpse of her, and his cousin Benvolio and garrulous friend Mercutio come
along for the fun.
At the party,
Romeo discovers someone far more captivating than Rosaline, and this would
be Juliet, the daughter of his father’s enemy. Suddenly, Rosaline is so
yesterday, as the saying goes, and Romeo can only think about Juliet, who
“doth teach the torches to burn bright.” For her part, Juliet is equally
besotted by Romeo. However, Romeo is discovered by Juliet’s arrogant,
hot-tempered cousin Tybalt. Naturally, Tybalt wants “To strike him dead,”
but Lord Capulet holds his nephew back, reminding Tybalt that Romeo is a
“virtuous and well-govern’d youth” and to fight Romeo “will set cock
a-hoop.” Tybalt bows to his uncle’s wishes but only grudgingly and with
“bitter gall.”
The party scene is
perhaps one of the most crucial scenes in the whole play. Not only does it
establish the intense physical connection that Romeo and Juliet feel for
each other, but it also sets in motion Tybalt’s animosity toward Romeo, with
the result being utter tragedy for the young lovers. Also, there is an
intimation that under different circumstances, if the families were not
feuding, Lord Capulet gladly would have taken Romeo as a son-in-law. “Verona
brags of him,” Lord Capulet tells Tybalt, and it is clear that the older man
has no personal enmity against Romeo. As Juliet later puts it in the famous
balcony scene, it is Romeo’s name that is the enemy.
Unfortunately,
this party scene is the one weak part of the Theater at Monmouth’s otherwise
good production. With no music, languid dancing, and a minimal cast, the
party comes across as flat and even a little rushed. The Theater at Monmouth
has the cast it has, but at the very least music could be added as well as
livelier dancing. (However, the later fight scenes are so thrilling and
intense that they almost make up for the flat party.)
The rest of the
story is so well known that a quick summation will do. Romeo and Juliet,
with the help of flibbertigibbet Nurse and the well-meaning but misguided
Friar Lawrence, get married in secret, but immediately after the wedding,
Tybalt taunts Romeo, who tries to ignore him. An incensed Mercutio
intervenes, and a fight ensues. Tybalt kills Mercutio, an enraged Romeo
kills Tybalt, and Romeo is banished. To complicate things further, Juliet’s
parents have decided that marriage to the worthy Paris is just the thing for
their daughter, thus inducing Father Lawrence to come up with his most
disastrous plan: give Juliet a draught to make it look as though she is dead
so that she can later slip away and join Romeo in exile. Needless to say,
things do not go as they should, and by the end, Romeo, Juliet, and Paris
lay dead in the Capulets’ tomb.
In any production
of Romeo and Juliet, success depends upon the actors who play the
young couple, and here the production does not disappoint. The dimpled
Benjamin Weaver is an energetic, skateboarding Romeo, ardent and impatient,
dark and handsome. As Juliet, Devin Moriarity is so youthful looking that it
almost seems as though she is indeed thirteen years old. There is a hurried,
breathless quality to the delivery of her lines, which, while inappropriate
for an older character, is totally in keeping with the young Juliet. With
their longing and their youth, Weaver’s and Moriarity’s Romeo and Juliet
completely engage the audience’s sympathies.
The rest of the
cast is equally good, with fine, clear diction and a pleasing cadence,
absolute necessities for any of Shakespeare’s plays. However, special
mention must go to Michael Santora, who plays the sly, mercurial Mercutio.
Santora has such presence and spark that his performance is absolutely
riveting. When he was on stage, I couldn’t look away from him. He is the
reason why theater can be so compelling. In fact, Santora’s performance is
what those who love theater hope for every time they go to a play but don’t
always get. Actors can be perfectly good without that added spark, but with
it, they bring magic and intensity to the theater.
This production
ends with Governor Baldacci reading the final, mournful lines. We have come
full circle with this “story of…woe.” Romeo and Juliet are bound by a harsh
fate set forth by their unreasoning and unreasonable families. As the prince
so aptly puts it, “[A]ll are punish’d.”
