Like the Montagues and Capulets, a variety of tones clash on the streets of fair Verona in the Atlanta Shakespeare Company’s newest staging of “Romeo and Juliet.” Moments that should be heartbreaking are undercut by some weird comic choices, conflicting acting styles and anachronisms. As a result, the playful romance works, but the tragedy doesn’t resonate as much as it should.
The star-crossed lovers are very compelling, though, particularly leading lady Destiny Freeman.
As the plot goes in this play, running at the Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse through March 6, two feuding families break into constant battles on the streets of Verona, yet fate deals the situation a twist. Romeo, a son of the family Montague, falls in love with Juliet, a daughter of the Capulet clan, after they meet at a ball and kiss. They get married the next day, encouraged by a local friar and Juliet’s confidante nurse. From there, things do not go well at all.
What else to say, for those who don’t know this play? The script’s good. William Shakespeare really knew what he was doing.
Freeman’s take on Juliet is radiant and beautiful. The character charges onstage learning to fight in her opening scene, suggesting the character is tough and capable, even though she’s not yet 14. Her parents treat her more like property to be traded; Juliet has her own will.
During the masked ball where Juliet meets Romeo, this production gives Freeman a chance to sing an impressive solo to the party guests. On the balcony later, she beams with giddy delight and speaks with wit over meeting a new love. Romeo cannot help but fall even harder for her, and the audience can’t resist either.
Freeman seems to relish the opportunity to play the character, either in joy or in anguish. Juliet’s fluctuating emotional state drives the play, and the actress gives those feelings depth and power.
Credit: Jeff Watkins
Credit: Jeff Watkins
As Romeo, Sariel Toribio is at his best when the character is pining and lovesick, first for a character named Rosaline and then Juliet. As his comrades Benvolio (Sarah Beth Hester) and Mercutio (Sean Kelley) tease him about how quickly and impulsively he loves, Toribio is charming. His romantic whims play as light and funny.
Things turn darker when Mercutio is slain by Juliet’s villainous cousin Tybalt (Benedetto Robinson). In that moment, Toribio’s emotional state doesn’t quite read as devastation. His Romeo seems more gobsmacked than “fortune’s fool,” even as Mercutio is cursing him while in the throes of death, even as he stabs Tybalt.
This is the moment when the tone of the play should completely shift, but it didn’t quite carry the gravitas. It didn’t help that, to flee the scene, Benvolio dresses Romeo in a COVID-preventative facemask before directing him to run up the central aisle through the audience, which caused laughter. Fourth-wall breaks and audience interactions are commonplace for the Tavern’s shows, and, to give credit, the Tavern is doing its best here to keep its patrons safe. But that facemask laugh deflates the tension and kills all seriousness. It’s a lousy moment.
Instead, the tonal change comes later when Kenneth Wigley’s Friar Lawrence takes the stage to console Romeo about his banishment, telling him it’s better to be alive than dead. It’s an excellent moment for Wigley and Toribio.
Wigley’s portrayal is the most consistently mature and sad of the show. The friar’s first arrival onstage interrupts an opening sword fight, which is a well-choreographed and daring departure from the script. The fight begins first. Swords are drawn, and threats are leveled long before Wigley interrupts the ongoing scene to tell us of “Two houses, both alike in dignity.”
When the friar provides counsel at any point, the weather seems to change onstage.
Likewise, Juliet’s Nurse, played by Jasmine Renee Ellis, is quite good. She enters the play by delivering a nonstop, impressive monologue that contains both comedy and warmth. Their bond, as played by Freeman and Ellis, permeates with affection, providing a sharp, necessary contrast from the cold, transactional relationship Juliet has with her parents.
Credit: Jeff Watkins
Credit: Jeff Watkins
Rachel Frawley plays Lady Capulet as distant and disappointed until the character is shattered. It’s an effective take.
Lord Capulet, as played by Nicholas Faircloth in the opening night production (though the role will be shared with O’Neil Delapenha), was less effective due to some very strange moments. The character keeps arranging a marriage for Juliet, even after she demands that he stop, and he threatens to disown her. But Faircloth’s Lord Capulet keeps getting these weird asides, designed to make the audience laugh. At one point, he started singing “Chapel of Love.”
The Dixie Cups recorded “Chapel of Love” in 1964. The laugh for the audience isn’t worth what tension the play loses, as Lord Capulet is out-of-touch but not comic relief. Occasionally, he’s a complete villain.
But this production won’t let its audience sit in discomfort or antiquated language for too long. The comic relief is plentiful and strange.
When Juliet’s parents discover her “dead” body on her wedding day, they begin exclaiming in grief. The musicians also enter the room, which is in the script, but this production has them playing upbeat tunes that overpower the sound of Lord Capulet’s lines, which include:
Death is my son-in-law. Death is my heir.
My daughter he hath wedded. I will die,
And leave him all. Life, living, all is Death’s.
That ain’t funny.
Director Kati Grace Brown needed to trust that the tragic tone can and should pervade Romeo and Juliet. The scenes in the second half should be a gut punch. Instead, the second half is uneven. The production is too often silly, as though the showrunners were afraid to make an audience of everyday metro Atlantans too depressed or too confused by Shakespearean verse during Valentine’s dates.
As a result, the performers compelled to cry and dwell in heartbreak onstage fared the best. See it for them.
THEATER REVIEW
“Romeo and Juliet”
Through March 6. $15-$45. Patrons must be vaccinated and wear masks when they are not eating. Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse, 499 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta. 404-874-5299, shakespearetavern.com.
Benjamin Carr is an arts journalist and critic who has contributed to ArtsATL since 2019. His plays have been produced at The Vineyard Theatre in Manhattan, as part of the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival, and the Center for Puppetry Arts. His first novel, “Impacted,” was published by The Story Plant in 2021.
Credit: ArtsATL
Credit: ArtsATL
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