Romeo and Juliet, Actors' Shakespeare Project, Roberts Studio Theatre, The Calderwood Pavilion, Boston, through June 2. ActorsShakespeareProect,org or 617-933-8600.
Shakespeare may have set "Romeo and Juliet" in Verona, but his great love tragedy speaks to all people and all ages. Perhaps gifted actress Marianna Bassham had this universality in mind in directing the Actors' Shakespeare Project's richly disarming revival at the Calderwood Pavilion's Roberts Studio Theatre.
In line with this approach, designer Lisa Coleman has dressed many of the actors in fairly unpretentious attire. Capulet brawlers wear grayish hoodies while their Montague counterparts don black ones. Benvolio, Romeo's cousin and best friend, wears a black tank top.Even Capulet and Lady Capulet—often adorned with elegant outfits in other productions—sport much simpler attire here—including sneakers. Villainous Tybalt dons a light colored tank top.
Such simpler costuming and Saskia Martinez's largely geometric scenic design allow Shakespeare's poetry and insights about romance, family and friendship to fully dominate this staging. Triangles dominate the handsome set—symbols that may suggest the kind of enlightenment about body and spirit that Romeo's confidant Friar Laurence means to stress in trying to replace easy hate with deep love and caring. Fernando Barbosa displays a bromantic kind of feeling for Romeo as Friar Laurence in a performance as compelling as any this critic has seen. Nurse, Juliet's confidant, brings a similar caring and support to her attention to Juliet. Inspired veteran actress Paula Plum smartly balances Nurse's earthiness and geniality with her unflagging attention to Juliet.
"Romeo and Juliet" boasts other well-developed secondary characters, and Bassham has clearly given them sharp attention. Michael Broadhurst—wearing a long black coat and sporting distressed pants-- makes the most of Mercutio's poetic attitude and standout wit and humor—particularly in his Queen Mab speech.Nicolas Zuluaga captures Benvolio's remarkable sincerity as a friend determined—though unsuccessfully—to keep the peace between the families. Broadhurst and Zuluaga—under Bassham's strong pacing—capture the playfulness of their characters' banter.
Here and throughout the production Ilya Vidrin's movement choreography connects artfully by turns with the changing fortunes of the families and kinsmen. In this staging, Esme Allen is intriguingly distant as Lady Capulet with regard to Juliet, while Christopher V. Edward—though verbally abusive at one point—does display real feeling as Capulet. Sandra Seoane—Seri has the right fire as Tybalt, and Jules Talbot has fine authority as Prince Escalus. Peter DiMaggio is a strikingly sensitive Paris.
Most of all, Evan Taylor as Romeo and Chloe McFarlane as Juliet make an arrestingly striking couple. Taylor could sometimes deliver his lines with stronger projection, though understatement does work well when his character experiences moments of anxiety, Even so, he does capture Romeo's wistful passages about Juliet as the sun and his profound reflections. McFarlane perfectly expresses Juliet's insecurity and loneliness in response to Romeo's banishment. She delivers all of Juliet's speeches with strong phrasing and full clarity. McFarlane has the young Capulet's spirit and energy.
The ASP staging captures the lovers' promise and ultimate sadness. After the close of the play, an ensemble —including Romeo and Juliet—gathers on stage for a photo. Is the ensemble a sign of where the warring families and lovers should be? Does this 'happy ending' suggestion take away from the staging? Theatergoers will have to decide for themselves. Still, Bassham and a solid cast do their best with Shakespeare's romantic gem.