Hampshire Shakespeare Company: News & Reviews

There is an historic challenge posed to any group attempting Shakespeare – to make it appear newly-minted and electrically charged, with words seemingly spoken for the first time. Under the skilled direction of Timothy Holcomb, the Hampshire Shakespeare Company production of the English-speaking world’s most famous romantic tragedy succeeds wildly. The three hour evening is so expertly orchestrated that it would serve as an enjoyable outing for all but the most severely comatose, and even the seriously bard-challenged.

"I think ‘Romeo and Juliet’ has it all," director Holcomb said, following last Saturday’s performance. "It’s one of the best potboilers put together. I do think it’s a tragedy in the true sense of the word. I think you’re praying for a happy ending."

Penned by the Stratford-on-Avon whiz around 1595, the work is most directly based upon an airlessly dreary 3,000 word poem created by Arthur Brooke in 1562. Shakespeare scholars often suggest that the romance represents an experiment by the playwright. He is presenting 16^th -century audiences with a contemporary issue, while also capitalizing on the prevailing Elizabethan fad for matters Italian.

The dramatic test, which he abandons in subsequent works, is to allow youthful promise to be crushed by mere chance, rather than character flaw. Film maker Alfred Hitchcock forced destiny upon players when they trusted unknowing policemen. Here, the lovers’ end is sealed when they depend upon the dangerous plotting, and poor timing, of a well-intentioned Friar Lawrence (Stephen Eldredge). Beginning as a comedy, fully realized in its first act, it is also a work regarding six deaths.

"I think the violence in the play is no more about Romeo and Juliet than teen-age violence in our schools suggests that teens are the cause of our social problems," director Holcomb said. He explained that Shakespeare depicts a stratum of deathly intent that rages through the families of Montague and Capulet. When Juliet (Jordana Harper-Ewert), disagrees with her father (Walter Carroll), he screams, "You green-sickness carrion! You baggage! You tallow-face!"

"The larger picture here is about how the society of the time is dealing with its own violent undertones," Holcomb said. "The play has at least five allusions to powder weapons, which is the new weapon on the horizon… It has to do with the cavalier attitude towards the execution of violence."

It’s often forgotten that Romeo (Ned Dunn) is not too many years beyond Juliet’s age of 13. Not to be forgotten that this is densely-worded medieval Shakespeare ("Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, Towards Pheobus’ lodging; Such a wagoner as Phaeton would…"). There is so much stage action, and nuance, however, that the poetic, and the comedic, are well translated. At no time are you watching wooden figures, stunned by an overload of high carbohydrate verbiage, simply desperate to reach the end of their soliloquy.

Bill Stewart, in the role of Mercutio, is so elegantly over-the-top, that it’s disastrous to see him knifed out of the action in Act III. Nevertheless, as he gasps and prepares for the choir invisible, he maintains an all-important sense of humor while describing his wound ("’Tis not so deep as a well, nor as wide as a church door, but ‘tis enough, ‘twill serve. As for me tomorrow and you will find me a grave man!").

Stewart’s comic poses and his repartee with both Benvolio (Jonathan Polgar) and the nurse (Sarah Wilson) brought applause from the audience. It leaves you wishing that Shakespeare had expanded the role for a ghostly Mercutio in a sequel, such as "Romeo & Juliet III: The Revenge."

As cast, Dunn as Juliet’s future love, first expresses the eye-rolling cynicism that befalls the jilted, "Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs," as his father (Lon Bull) observes.

This will melt when he meets Juliet, and due to flawless casting, there is a decent chemistry between Dunn and the fair-haired Harper-Ewert. As Juliet, she has an immediate charm, and the two of them create a fun, Elizabethan couple.

You also wonder if, as written, Shakespeare provides more wit and awareness to Juliet. Although Romeo sees a portent of his own death, ("My mind misgives some consequence yet hanging in the stars"), she for sees their tragic fate ("How if, when I am laid into the tomb, I wake before the time that Romeo come to redeem me?").

While editing the play, Holcomb chose to work with the First Folio, published in 1623. For that reason a brief prologue, outlining the plot ("Two houses, both alike in dignity"), and a rarely performed epilogue bracket the play. At the denouement, the Prince (Laura Patnode), related to Mercutio and Paris, both now on the other side of the lawn, realizes that he has failed to keep order, propelling the tragedy.

"That heaven finds means to kill you joys with love. An I for winking at your discords too…" the Prince explains.

In Holcomb's opinion, the Prince’s role is the most neglected in the play, given that his losses are also severe, and that his final words gives focus and balance to a work that often blacks out upon Juliet’s death.

"It’s absolutely critical that the play show at least a symbol of due process, a restoration of understanding," Holcomb said.

Prithee, one caveat emerges for Look Park attendees. After sunset the stage lights create an aeronautical circus of spinning and biting insects. Although bug spray is provided, only the truly foolhardy will arrive in shorts and T-shirts.

"Romeo & Juliet" at the Lord Jeffery Inn, Amherst, July 21, 23, 26, 28, and 30, and at Look Park, Northampton, July 24, 25, 31 and August 1. Curtain time is 7 p.m. Tickets are available at the door and at Atticus Albion Books in Amherst and Beyond Words Bookshop in Northampton. General Admission $12; Seniors and Children to age 18, $6. For information, call 548-8118.

Don Stewart is a free-lance writer based in Shelburne Falls.