Romeo & Juliet

From the Playbill:

We think of Romeo and Juliet as the classic tragic love story, the most pursuasive celebration of romantic love in all Western literature. Yet, it starts as a comedy and a bawdy one at that, full of double entendre from wonderfully quirky characters like the ribald Mercutio and Juliet’s earthy Nurse. And what are we to make of Shakespeare’s protagonists: Romeo – the fickle, moody, impetuous crybaby – and Juliet – the headstrong, disobedient, impatiently sensual schemer?

Shakespeare has invented a new genre – the romantic tragedy – which combines humor, haphazardness and human frailty, giving us not a serious, lofty play full of heightened language and epic, larger than life characters, but one that we recognize as universal not despite but because of its depiction of all too human, imperfect people who are “fortune’s fool(s.)”

What the Critics Said:

“Rejoice….If you have been yearning to experience the authentic flavor of this great romantic drama without any distracting hokum, here is your opportunity….the essential key to the success of this no-frills ‘R&J’ is the director’s casting of Andy Butterfield and Julia Motyka in the title roles. Both bring boundless energy that infuses every scene in which they appear, adding joy to their courtship, poignancy to their tragic fate. Currier has them running and skipping about the stage, words tumbling over each other as if there is never time to express all the emotion that is roiling within their youthful bodies. When they die, it is the extinguishing of two bright flames…”
Charles Brousse, Marin IJ

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