Live music and brawls in the aisle revive this classic tale
William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet finds new life at the Guelph Little Theatre (GLT) from April 4 to 14. The classic tale of two star-crossed lovers is performed by the versatile crew of GLT. The drama unfolds on the spacious stage — and even along the aisles of the audience. Other stand-out features of the performance included live music and a highly charismatic cast. GLT’s production of Romeo & Juliet will surely evoke empathy and excitement.
The performance opened with a street brawl between two rival families: the Montagues and the Capulets. At first, fists are thrown between two duelists, but before long, steel is drawn and three pairs are engaged in mortal combat — some on the stage, others in the very aisles of the audience.
Although an enjoyable emotional rollercoaster, the actors’ projection was inconsistent causing a hastily delivered line to be lost in translation. Fortunately, the cast’s charisma made up for any lack of verbal clarity.
The many comedic moments made up for this — from quick lines of modern slang and Romeo (played by Julian Murphy opposite Victoria Brown’s Juliet) hiding himself amongst the audience, to various cast members parading down the aisles with drums and tambourines, it was overall a good experience of theatre.
Additionally, throughout the entire performance were two stoic musicians — pianist Ben Wallace and bassist Quaid Lale — quietly placed at the back of the stage, who subtly added a layer of well-rehearsed music at key moments of the play. So fitting was their ambience that amidst the clashing steel, stumbling bodies, and shouts of dialogue, one may have thought that the music had been there all along.
Scott Lale, director of the show, felt that the universal themes of Romeo & Juliet are just as relevant now as they have ever been, and the truths written into the plot are the reason that it is still re-enacted, 400 years later.
Some of these truths, according to Lale, include Romeo’s proclivity to, in a sense, show-off with his flowery language, the tendency for parents to sometimes “have their head up their ass,” and for people to sometimes forget why they even feel opposed to something as they “go along” with their peers.
“It’s fun. It’s light, which Shakespeare can be,” added Lale, “He tends to be compared to a trip to the dentist in that you may not want to go, but you’ll be glad you did. This is different, it’s fun from the start.”
Romeo & Juliet plays at the Guelph Little Theatre until April 14.
Photos courtesy of Dean Palmer/Guelph Little Theatre