Romeo and Juliet

Play (1595)
by William Shakespeare

With Ken Baltin (Capulet), Jason Bowen (Romeo), Paige Clark (Benvolia), Miranda Craigwell (Lady Capulet), Julie Ann Earls (Juliet), Paula Langton (Nurse), Antonio Ocampo-Guzman (Friar Laurence), Maurice Emmanuel Parent (Mercutio/Apothecary), Omar Robinson (Tybalt/Friar John/Servant), Ben Rosenblatt (Paris/Prince/Peter)

A number of years ago, the Actors’ Shakespeare Project took its magnificent Hamlet – audience and all – to the stage of the Strand Theatre in Dorchester. For that production, all of the audience was seated downstage while much of the action happened upstage and in the theater itself. It was a vivid, enthralling evening. I saw it twice.

The current production puts part of the audience downstage and the bulk of the audience in the orchestra, while the action happens in between, sort of like a sandwich. It is not exactly theatre in the round, but two-sided, front and back.

The production certainly had its moments and eventually built quite convincingly to its tragic end. However, there was also something vaguely dissociated about some of the staging. Whether the sandwich setup was the cause, or whether the ASP, so expert and practiced in the art of intimate theatre performed in all kinds of venues, has not quite figured out how to take advantage of a proscenium stage in a large theatrical space, there was some sense of a vacancy not always filled. I am not trying to carp – obviously some very intimate theatre manages to fill large stages quite adequately – but, here, for some reason, I did not always get that sense.

There also seemed to be an acoustic issue, and it was hard to hear many of the lines. That could be because the actors were trying to serve audiences on both sides at once. Or, there could be something about the way the hall carries sound that needed a little more attention. But that also contributed to a reduced sense of presence and availability.

The directing tasks were shared between the very capable, long-time member of the ASP, Bobbie Steinbach, and Allyn Burrows, the artistic director of the company. Despite their combined experience and capabilities, I wonder whether this sort of directorial sharing might also have contributed to a feeling of something not quite singularly and authoritatively shaped.

The acting was perfectly capable.

Jason Bowen, seen in multiple productions at the Huntington Theatre Company in recent years, including A Raisin In the Sun, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Ruined, played a charming and intense Romeo. Julie Ann Earls played a youthful, passionate, and sometimes giddy Juliet, also seeming appropriately as young as her role was intended to be.

Ken Baltin, who had compelling roles in Central Square Theater’s Operation Epsilon and the New Repertory Theater’s The Kite Runner last season, gave a steadfast Capulet. Miranda Craigwell, seen in the delightful Actors’ Shakespeare Project production of Two Gentlemen of Verona and the New Repertory Theater’s production of David Mamet’s Race last season, delivered an elegant and dignified Lady Capulet.

Paula Langton, seen recently in Middletown and Twelfth Night at Actors’ Shakespeare Project and in various productions at the New Repertory Theater, had one of the more interestingly offbeat interpretations as the Nurse, showing in demeanor and dress a bit of punk stylishness.

Maurice Emanuel Parent (seen in Central Square Theater’s production of The Mountaintop last season), as Mercutio, played the role with some overt histrionics that came off some of the time.

Omar Robinson, a standout in the Lyric Stage’s recent production of Superior Donuts, and also seen in the Actors’ Shakespeare Project production of Twelfth Night, provided a serious and intense Tybalt.

Paige Clark, also delightful in the Actors’ Shakespeare Project production of Two Gentlemen of Verona last season, transforming the typical male role of Benvolio as Benvolia, was energetic and urgent when necessary. Antonio Ocampo-Guzman did the required duties as the sedate and somewhat daunted Friar Laurence.

Ben Rosenblatt held down the Paris role with aplomb.

As noted, the performance did grow towards the end and rose towards its dramatic requirements. But, I wonder if an audience just to one side – either onstage or in the orchestra – and a slightly more condensed theatrical space – might have aided this very good company to rise to its conventional levels of dramatic intensity.

– BADMan