Poway Performing Arts Company and Pickwick Players

July 6 - August 5, 2018

I adore the language of Shakespeare - the poetry, and the challenge that it presents to modern audiences and actors. (I am so in love with his works that I have his portrait tattooed on my shoulder). I love his characters - for their passions and their foibles. Romeo and Juliet is Shakespeare at his most romantic - using the powers of his mind to create indelible characters that speak poetry that is profound, funny, arousing, and engaging. This love of language inspired me to spearhead this production.

Two of the aspects of Shakespeare, both his work and the theatre of his time, that most intrigue me are how he took elements from disparate times and mashed them together and how he worked within the strictures of mono-gender casting (to be technical, the single gender casting of the Elizabethan era was dictated by law to allow only men on stage...but I digress). When it came to this production, I was dedicated to the proposition of opening up the male roles to either gender - embracing, to a degree, the Elizabethan approach to casting. When it comes to Shakespeare, and this play in particular, I have a strong belief in the actor winning the part based on their merits and chemistry, regardless of their gender. Each character was played as Shakespeare wrote them (ex: Romeo was still a young man full of passion and dreams), but the female actors brought a new sensibility to how their roles are interpreted and performed.

Embracing the “mashing of eras” informed the design of the production - playing into a minimalist staging (using three chairs to represent the balcony due to the size of the space), meta-theatrical elements (the cast warmed up on stage as the audience filtered in), and the lighting design (the stage was lined with LED lights that changed to differentiate the settings). The costuming was Elizabethan in design, with some variations to accommodate the female-centric cast (leggings instead of breeches, for example). The music was a mix of classical and pop performed in a classical style.

At its heart, Romeo and Juliet is about two young lovers that move too quickly and act too rash, in want of slowing down just a hair. Their insane optimism and lack of perspective when things go awry is a direct result of their youth. The urgency of the story matches the urgency of their love and can teach us that sometimes, just taking a moment can change your life.

Trailers.

These two trailers captured two different sides to our production of Romeo and Juliet - a joy-filled, happy, and funny production and profoundly sad story, one filled with grief and loss. The genius of the play is that it is full of juxtapositions - both joyful and tragic. We embraced those opposites and played to them through the lines and the interpretation of each character.