Shakespeare may have been a literary genius, but Taffety Punk's brilliant all-female production of "Romeo and Juliet" exposes the playwright for what he truly is: the dirtiest old man English teachers in middle schools across America have ever exalted.
"The play is loaded with overtly crass, sexual humor," T-Punk Artistic Director Marcus Kyd said. "And this is really the first time I've heard a lot of it."
The production, directed by Lise Bruneau, is likely the first time many T-Punk observers are hearing a lot of it as well. Unlike many productions of the Bard's most played-out play, the T-Punks shed the stiff "actor as auteur" persona and let language - the cadence, rhyme and double, triple, quadruple entendres - take center stage. The Capitol Hill Arts Workshop's black box theater is the perfect minimalist package for this punch; outfitted only with a rudimentary monkey bars-and-chain-link-swing set, the women muscle, swagger and twist their way to the heart of Shakespeare's poetry.
T-Punker Kimberly Gilbert's take on Mercutio is mostly to blame for this crass act. Playing the life of the party, Gilbert's face emotes and contorts as she bends words and gender into the most virile and violently funny Mercutio one is likely to see - crotch-grabbing, hip-thrusting, tongue-wagging and, at one dramatic climax, motor-boating (a la "Wedding Crashers") Juliet's nurse.
Rahaleh Nassri's performance as Romeo also adds depth to an old role, revealing the oft overly maturated leading man as a lovesick teenaged boy with the emotional peaks and valleys only puberty can ignite. The brilliant acting trickles down even to the smallest roles in the play; Sarah Taurchini's servant character is full of subtle wit and dry humor, highlighting clashes of class and social status that tend to flash by in more mainstream "Romeo and Juliet" productions.
"The women threw themselves at this with mission-like zeal," Kyd said of the cast.
That dedication is evident in the women's passionate acting, which Kyd attributed to the unique opportunity for them to play some of the best (male) roles in theater.
"The all-male production has been done before, it's commonplace," he said. "It's not fair; there are only ever two to four roles for women in Shakespeare's plays. Women are killing themselves for jobs in theater and to play these roles."
Kyd said that when he heard what Folger was up to, the all-female production was "a knee jerk reaction" that started from a "cruel place" but ended up being a very positive and enjoyable experience for the theater company.
The Taffety Punk Theatre Company is committed to bringing the district "smarter, cheaper, better theater." This all-female production of "Romeo and Juliet," has delivered just that. However, lest anti-intellectualism turns some tragedy fans off to the T-Punks, Kyd reassured that the Taffety Punk Theatre Company was not trying to make a statement about men, women or the equality thereof. So, why no boys allowed?
"We're just trying to shake the scene up," Kyd said. "That's why we exist."
See the T-Punks in all their cross-dressing, girl-kissing and ass-kicking glory for yourself on Oct. 2, 3 and 4 at 7:30 p.m. at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop.
You can reach this staff writer at hcrowe@theeagleonline.com.
