“Romeo and Juliet” is a triumph at Interlochen
INTERLOCHEN, Mich.–In his Director’s Notes, William Church expresses his intent in staging Romeo and Juliet in the Interlochen Shakespeare Festival this year was “to reveal the core of the story so clearly that the play feels a though it is being heard for the first time” to the point that “the ending (spoiler alert!) comes as a devastating (yet inevitable) surprise.”
This, of course, is impossible in a play that begins where it ends, with the two lovers’ “death-marked love” made manifest with their lifeless bodies entangled on a center stage platform. Yet, the effect of Church’s raising the bar for this production is evident. And though Romeo and Juliet is undoubtedly the world’s most famous love story and has been performed and adapted countless times for more than 400 years, this production, indeed, feels fresh and relevant–even if the ending comes as no surprise.
Church’s great triumph, in addition to a guiding a truly fine cast and excellent design team, is the way he stages the action and makes use of the natural world in the Upton-Morley Pavilion’s outdoor setting. The audience experiences quite literally many of the play’s major themes and its key symbols, for example, the juxtaposition between light and dark as the sun sets over the course of the play and day turns to night. A moon rises on stage thanks to brilliant lighting design by Rachel Diebel while the actual July moon in Northern Michigan appears with twinkling stars in the night sky overhead. The sun is bright as Romeo and Juliet’s love grows; but the temperature drops and the audience grows cold as their impending doom grows nigh.
Likewise, references to birds and flowers mirror the sparrows flying into and out of the light grid and the vegetation surrounding the stage. Actors make their entrances from every direction and are visible in the woods on either side of the pavilion, erasing the distinction between real and imagined, and now, the present moment of viewing the play and late 16th Century Verona. This exquisite staging works on multiple levels.
Gina Smothers’ set looks deceptively simple, but is interesting and functional. A multi-tiered platform of circular steps and larger raised stages is held up by metal javelin-like poles, symbolizing the pain, rivalry, and violence central to the story while also providing places on which the actors can climb, swing, and balance. A decorative banner of enormous colorful tulle flowers embedded with light bulbs from ceiling to floor upstage-left bring levity and romanticism for balance. Church uses every inch of the stage and surrounding areas, and the actors give impressively buoyant and athletic performances.
The stage combat is especially effective, and beautifully executed; each battle intensifies in stakes and violence.
In addition to the lighting that balances light and dark, natural and created worlds and paralleling the text, and the functional set that symbolizes the juxtaposition of love and hate with its flowers and sharp edges, Candace Hughes’ costumes–some period, others more contemporary–highlight the connection between present and past, and help blur the lines between history and present.
All of these technical elements are especially notable because they so thoroughly support the overall concept of this production and what are otherwise exceptional performances by every actor on stage. Harry Thornton is an endearing, warm, and complex Romeo; he leaps, slips and falls deliberately, climbs, hangs, swings and wanders, emoting with each youthfully exuberant movement. It’s impossible not to fall in love with him. Ema Horvath is a wonderful match for him in her sweetly expressive Juliet whose emotions convincingly run the gamut from playfully romantic and naive to rage. Her “Romeo is banished” soliloquy is especially powerful.
Equity actors David Montee as Friar Laurence and Anne Cooper as Nurse give solid, layered performances in crucial roles; Shawna James brings vivaciousness and a contemporary street-rhythm flair to Petra; and perhaps most notable is Noah Durham’s passionate Mercutio. His energy and commitment are unparalleled right up until his extraordinary death scene.
Ultimately, this is a thoughtful, beautifully conceived production that, rather than adapt or otherwise play with the classic text, emphasizes and brings to life its major themes with smart choices, terrific talent, and the magic and elegance of the natural world.