THEATRE REVIEW: ROMEO AND JULIET


Pictured: Daniel Briere, Sara Topham

JOHN COULBOURN, Special to LFPress
29 May 2013
R: 3.5/5

STRATFORD — The latest season of the Stratford Festival launched here Monday with a big, bold production of ROMEO AND JULIET, staged with admirable authenticity by director Tim Carroll, an enthusiastic devoteé of London's Globe Theatre, where the Original Practices of Shakespeare and his players are held in high regard.

And, in attempting to present R&J to a 21st century audience seated in the Festival Theatre while maintaining the illusion that his is an audience gathered in the outdoor confines of Shakespeare's Globe on a sunny Sunday afternoon, late in the 16th century, Carroll offers some interesting perspectives, at least to an audience steeped in modern theatrical convention.

Carroll's interest in history comes together most happily on a stage only recently returned to the proportions originally envisioned by the legendary Tanya Moiseiwitsch in her original Stratford design, creating what certainly looks to be an 'authentic' production of Shakespeare's most enduring romantic tragedy. Ultimately, however, it all smacks more of archeology that theatricality in a production seemingly more concerned with what is in the history books than what is in the characters' hearts.

For openers, there's the problem of the leading characters, for while Carroll certainly has a Romeo (Daniel Briere) and Juliet (Sara Topham) with which to conjure, at least on a physical level, he never really brings their romance to life, leaving one to speculate on the reproductive elements of cold fusion. Topham, at least, enjoys some lovely, if overly shrill, moments of girlish innocence, but Briere is strangely and determinedly detached throughout, finally exhibiting less angst at the loss of his ladylove than most young men display at the elimination of their team from the playoffs.

They are, at least, surrounded by a seasoned cast, most of whom are doing interesting work — and while one appreciates the effort and skill the always admirable Kate Hennig, for instance, puts into her bawdy portrayal of Juliet's nurse, or the comedic chops Mike Nadajewski marshals in transforming the role of an illiterate servant into a featured role, or even the unaccustomed swagger Tom McCamus brings to the role of the venerable Friar Laurence, one is far less likely to find those efforts do much to move the heart of the story forward.

But amongst a supporting cast that includes Scott Wentworth, Wayne Best and a host of others, Jonathan Goad's take on the mercurial Mercutio is perhaps most bewildering — a poetic, lively character whose death starts the inevitable decline of this love story into tragedy, stripped here of his poetry and reduced to signalling that the plug has been pulled and any emotional and human energy heretofore generated is about to drain away at an alarming rate.

Working in a medium that normally aspires to touch the heart, Carroll instead takes aim squarely at the head, serving up a production that proves to be an utterly serviceable and yes, even authentic, production of ROMEO AND JULIET. But on another, deeper level, it emerges as little more than forgettable and oddly loveless piece of work, perhaps more appropriately titled Much Ado About Nothing.