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The first show of Providence College's Department
of Theatre is "Romeo & Juliet" by William Shakespeare. The
children of two powerful families, the Montagues and the Capulets, are so
deeply enchanted with each other that they forget they live in an
environment where their scrappy cousins would rather wrestle and brawl
than recognize anything akin to love. "Romeo & Juliet" has been called
a classic, and rightly so, for it is the most human of emotions to fall in
love, and on the other end of the spectrum,perhaps the most human of
emotions to wish destruction and revenge on one's enemies.
Director John Garrity directs this show excellently with 23
students. He is aided in his task by Sara Ossana who does the
scenic design with a two story unit set of three building
facades, and a concrete yard with garbage strewn about to
represent the urban city setting. Sara also made a gorgeous
multitude of costumes which she designed especially impressive
is Lady Capulet's gold pants suit and orange brocade dressing gown with
brown trim as well as some garish ones worn by the women which captures
the style of the 80's perfectly. (Also impressive is the big hairdo styles
of the women which are comic to look back on.) Chris Brown designs
the lights which are astounding in the death scenes and George Marks
handles the technical direction. Norm Beauregard, a master stage
combat choreographer stages the fight scenes and the knife
fights in this show are astonishing. Stage manager Paula Tran
keeps thing running smoothly all night long.Their combined efforts and the
talent of his cast with its excellent poignancy, leaves you in tears at
the end of the show.
John sets the show in the late 1980's and has his
performers capture the essence of the play with current day themes of gang
violence, reckless youth who are willing to commit suicide when things go
wrong and torrid romantic love. He blocks them all over the
massive set with the performers utilizing every part of it, climbing
around the stage area with ease.The first part starts off with a knife
fight between the two families and includes some comic moments
such as the nurse and the mother using a broom to describe how sexy Paris
is to the young Juliet, the simplicity of Peter and his crazy antics and
Mercutio's comic knife fight at first that suddenly turns tragic
unexpectedly. The first part has the needed exposition for first
time audiences but it is the end of this part with the deaths of Mercutio
and Tybalt and the second part that will impress even seasoned
Shakespearean theatre goers. Romeo and Juliet are beautifully
played by Brendan Hickey and Emily Grill.(I knew her mother,
Kelly Westcott when I did "Evita" at the college back in 1986.) They
make the needed transition from carefree youthful lovers into
dramatic adults beautifully. Brendan is a lanky blond while
Emily is a pretty, petite brunette. His scenes with her are tender and
sweet while his scenes with Tybalt and Paris are frightening at their
intensity. Brendan's scenes with the Friar crackle with electricity
when he is in despair about what to do after killing Tybalt. Emily has
many comic moments with the nurse in the first act but she really
shines in the second act when the tragic events envelop Juliet
as she learns of Tybalt, her cousin's death and Romeo's banishment and
when she awakens to find her true love dead, it rips your heart out.
Her argument scenes with her parents are breathtaking when she at
first refuses to wed Paris and after she sees the Friar,she
returns contrite and apologetic with the potion she has obtained hidden on
her person. Their interactions with the other cast members are topnotch.
They are very talented freshmen who shine in these huge roles,
showing they have a bright future in the theatre.
Two other outstanding performers in this show are
Alexander MacIntyre who plays Friar Lawrence and Suzanne Keyes who
plays the Nurse.( I have reviewed both of these performers before and
they always do marvelous work and this show is no
exception.) Their command of Shakespearean dialogue and delivery of their many lines
is astounding. Alexander's emotion packed lines are wonderful to
listen to as are Suzanne's dramatic and comic lines. She has a
wonderful relationship with Emily's character as her protector and
confidante and when she becomes devastated at the girl's death it is startling
to behold. Suzanne has a funny bit with her dimwitted servant,
Peter played perfectly by freshman Kevin Lynch where she yells at
him and beats him on the head with a rolled up newspaper. He is
hilarious as the nerd-like servant who constantly wears headphones, can't read
the invitation list and walks around like Urkel from
"Family Matters". Some other powerful performers include
Ted Boyce-Smith as Mercutio who is Romeo's friend and confidant and
the Prince's cousin (he is a dynamic performer who handles the comic
and dramatic moments from his first entrance to his closing lines
where Mercutio wishes a plague on both their houses. He is a hoot when
he teases the nurse, dropping her as he pretends to kiss her as well
as teasing Romeo at the party and when he laughs in Tybalt's face at
the knife fight) Sean Carney as the hot headed Tybalt
who challenges Romeo to a duel after he crashes the Capulets party and
appears as a ghostly specter haunting Juliet in the second act. Thomas Nailor
and Samantha Brilhante as Lord and Lady Capulet do terrific work in
the show with their commanding speaking voices and get a
chance to shine in their argument scene with Juliet.( Her anguish at
the death of Tybalt at the end of act one is
excellently portrayed.) Sean Reynolds does a wonderful job as Romeo's
cousin Benvolio who accompanies him to the party and on his travails
throughout the city in the first act. Tom Cotter plays the ill fated Paris
who wants to wed Juliet, has a terrific gun fight with Romeo in
the crypt and Peter Cunis as the Prince of Verona who speaks to
the citizens to behave themselves to no avail, is another commanding
presence in the show. So for a trip back to the past, be sure to catch this
version of "Romeo and Juliet" at Providence College to see some fabulous acting
by talented college students.
ROMEO & JULIET (30
October to 8 November, 2009)
Providence College,Angell
Blackfriars Theatre, Smith Center for the Arts, River Ave.
Providence,RI
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