By Matt Oviatt
I’m at the Rock Canyon Amphitheater in Provo, waiting for the show to start. The sun is setting at my back, there’s a gentle breeze blowing, and I can hear birds and crickets chirping. The most impressive thing is the up-close view of the canyon entrance, two opposing peaks that literally set the stage for The Diaries of Romeo and Juliet by Renaissance Now, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic. It’s a perfect symbol of the two feuding households, but the connections don’t end there.
Romeo and Juliet is often staged, whether in full, a shortened version, or presented in other variations like West Side Story or local SONDERImmersive’s mesmerizing Through Yonder Window. Renaissance Now offers a different take, no less delightful and tragic than the rest. The setting is contemporary, communicated by scenic designer Janice Chan’s set. It’s a simple set, but it’s much more than the sum of its parts. There’s text from the play graffitied onto walls and platforms, and various flyers are plastered on a chain-link fence. It perfectly captures what Renaissance Now sets out to do with the Romeo and Juliet story: make it current, make it honest, make it alive.
Logan Murphy as Romeo begins the play with a contemporary monologue addressed directly to the audience, as though speaking from his latest journal entry. We then get right into things with the famous “Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?” quarrel straight from the original text. The play mostly follows Shakespeare’s classic dialogue, interspersed with contemporary asides given from characters in important moments that provide well-timed insight or comic relief. This pattern worked for me, breaking up stretches of traditional Shakespeare for a breath of air, making it all the more exciting to get back into the action. The whole play has been distilled into 90 minutes, which also makes Shakespeare more appealing for today’s audiences.
The actors do a great job at bringing out both the contemporary moments and classic Shakespeare drama. Jacob Thomason plays a brilliant Mercutio, commanding Shakespeare’s text and the audience’s interest with his Queen Mab speech and bloody brawl at the break before intermission. Josh Needles as the Nanny “Peter” is an example of gender-bent casting gone right as he brings out the humor of her dialogue and offers something to think about when he says to Romeo “Stand, and you be a man.” Friar Lawrence, played by Alice Ellsworth, takes on a broader role in this version. She is police officer, friar, and apothecary all in one. Though a major player in this game, her role seems to symbolize broader concepts in our society, forcing us to see this tragic love story through a lens of today’s law enforcement, drug usage, and other powerful forces.
The character that gains the most from this retelling is Juliet, played by Maddie Smith. She’s not the helpless and hopeless female love interest as in the original. She wears slightly punk apparel and tells the audience she’s well aware of her daddy issues. Like Romeo, she’s just a young person who’s feeling disillusioned and disenfranchised by the world around them. They do their best to follow their hearts, all the while the fallible adults in power leave them with no choice but to meet their inevitable demise.
This is what stayed with me the most after the performance. Lady Montague and Lord Capulet (Colie Lemon and Adam Argyle respectively) deal with alcohol abuse, organized crime, but most of all their inability to reach their kids. “Ophelia” (Benvolio, played by Olivia Casper) works a job to make ends meet and just wants to be happy with her friends, which is ruined by Tybalt (Skylar Lees) and the feud between the two families. After the deaths of the young couple and Paris (Riki Squire), it is Friar/Officer/Doctor Lawrence who screams “All are punished!”, which echoes through the canyon, that calls out the dysfunction in our society. How can we expect anyone to successfully grow up in a place that has yet to truly confront the harmful effects of expectations, teen rehabilitation (a popular industry in Utah), and substance abuse? A recent Salt Lake Tribune article reports that alcohol sales, substance abuse, and emergency room visits by young people for mental health reasons are all on the rise as the current COVID pandemic continues.
This heaviness is balanced by Kathy Curtiss’ direction, which takes full advantage of the beautiful nature surrounding the space. Characters enter from up the hill as they approach a party, or chase each other around bushes and trees. Hikers and climbers on a nearby path will often stop and watch the performance, even quietly finding a spot in the back to join the audience. Being in a public park, it brought me so much joy to see people be drawn to live theatre after such a long time of being dark. Even as the sun sets at intermission, lights are there to illuminate the actors and prove that theatre cannot stay in the dark forever. However, I recommend you go better prepared by arriving early to find a good parking spot, as well as bring a blanket or coat (you’ll want it when the sun goes down) so you can fully enjoy Renaissance Now’s production of The Diaries of Romeo and Juliet, a free and excellent piece of theatre. Best suited for adults and younger persons who are old enough to understand classical Shakespeare, who don’t mind moments of intense sword fighting and the Bard’s bawdy wordplay.
Renaissance Now Theatre & Film presents The Diaries of Romeo and Juliet, original text by William Shakespeare, adapted and directed by Kathy Curtiss.
Rock Canyon Amphitheatre, Rock Canyon Trail, Provo, UT 84604
May 26-29, 2021. 7:30 PM
Tickets: Free
Renaissance Now Theater & Film Facebook Page
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