Wednesday, July 20, 2011
In order to remedy my virulent reaction to The Venetian Twins, a second helping from Shakespeare & Company was in order.
David Gelles was a revelation as Romeo; youthful, fun, ambitious, naive, and altogether adorable. Susannah Millonzi was caustic and abrasive; a young Hilary Swank of sorts. I can understand the attraction to this type: if Juliet is going to have the drive we need of her, she should not be the innocent waif, but Ms. Millonzi was too rough around the edges to realize the role.
Choosing to put the entire cast in white for every scene except Capult's ball was indeed bold, but certainly misguided. While Romeo and Juliet may be immune from the history of violence between their families, the other characters are not. Thus, to say they were all pure and innocent is far and beyond a misunderstanding of the text. Other misunderstandings included the aforementioned ball, where Juliet dutifully and happily danced with Paris. That she were too young to marry and has only agreed to even meet the man to please her mother, the gaiety with which she caroused with Paris was wrong indeed.
Starla Benford played a jovial and new Nurse, imagine a Wendy Williams of sorts. Although the attitude and anachronistic take was out of place in this production, it was a pleasing choice. Kevin O'Donnell's bawdy Mercutio knew no bounds, and shocked at times. It was more than I would have liked, but I appreciated the dedication and entertainment value therein.
At three hours, the "Two Hours traffic" phrase was excised from the prologue, and it too was an unfortunate misunderstanding as the tragedy dragged on and on. Again, you can do better S & C.
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