When you cast the world's greatest love story entirely with men, it becomes a crude and aggressive steamroller of a tale about pride, revenge and adolescence. Shakespeare Theatre's launch of the classic "Romeo and Juliet" is just that, performed as Shakespeare himself would have seen it: 100 percent testosterone-based.
But where is the love?
From the onset, director David Muse's production throws itself forward at a grueling pace, a stylistic approach that plays beautifully in moments of boyish banter and in particular during the playful Queen Mab monologue, delivered superbly by Aubrey Deeker playing Mercutio.
"This play is set in a very consciously constructed masculine world, and a lot of what propels the grudge and violence between these two families is masculine bravado," Muse said in an interview on the theater company's Web site.
Muse's perspective is well communicated throughout the play. The set, designed by Scott Bradley, is a monumental collection of brown walls, with arches and barrels creating the basics of an Italian wine cellar. A balcony is inset in the downstage wall with rusted monkey bars climbing up to it from the stage floor. More monkey bars line the downstage arch on the opposite side, giving the young Mercutio a place to do his chin-ups after a night of drunken lovemaking.
However, while Muse's approach does bring to light a lot of Shakespeare's commentary on the wild state of man, it fails to maintain the delicacy of the central theme: love.
Romeo (Finn Wittrock) artlessly bounds about the stage as "light from yonder window breaks" in the quintessential balcony scene. While his youthful energy is rightfully apparent, it damages the poetic resonance of his intoxication with Juliet.
"When both of these roles are played by men, a lot of the performance of their love needs to live in the language that they speak," Muse said.
While Muse's mind is in the right place, his masculine bravado seems to keep him from success.
But that's not for lack of believability of the men cast in the female roles. Shakespeare Theatre perennial Drew Eshelman is every bit the old and unrefined Nurse to Juliet. Eshelman found the manly traits in his character and exploited them at every opportunity. Lady Capulet, played by Tom Beckett, is an amusing representation of a caring mother. Jeffrey Kuhn, while a rather frightening-looking woman as Lady Montague, is every bit the Victorian Dana Carvey as the illiterate servant Peter.
And James Davis almost seamlessly plays the 13-year-old Juliet, widely noted as one of the greatest female roles in western literature.
"Juxtaposed against [the masculine bravado] are Romeo and Juliet, who behave in ways that are atypical for people of their gender," Muse said. Davis's Juliet definitely incorporates that bravado, breaking the reality of the character variously and humorously.
The performance is fascinating but lacks the heart-wrenching sadness of lost love. Muse takes us into a new Verona, the way that Shakespeare would have seen it, a Verona dominated by the rashness of hatred. Perhaps Shakespeare himself would have emphasized these themes in the original productions. There's no way to know. But what can be said is that Shakespeare would never allow love to be lost.
You can reach this staff writer at tbudde@theeagleonline.com.
