Unlike the original Romeo and Juliet, R&J has an outer frame of a Catholic boys’ school. Student 1 (Michael D.H. Phillips) is secretly infatuated with Student 2 (Brian Brennan). S1 tosses and turns while S2 and two others are sleeping, tormented as he is by his unrequited feelings. Eventually he wakes his fellows with a flashlight, and they scurry off to the woods to perform the play.
This is the point at which things get ontologically interesting. What is really going on here? Is everything taking place in ordinary reality, and all is taking place in waking life? Or is the bulk of the play inside S1’s head? A means for him to play Romeo to his Juliet in his dreams because he believes this is the only way he’ll ever win his love? Or are all four students in an altered state?
This is strongly suggested by lines from A Midsummer’s Night Dream and how, every once in a while, other worldly voices interrupt the action and disturb the actors. And doesn’t the self-awareness of actors playing actors become a frame four or five times removed from reality? Whew, this play is fit for a logician or meta-physician— take your pick.
Not only are the mental gymnastics a kick, but the physical ones make for the most energetic Shakespeare you’re likely to have ever seen. Phillips, playing Romeo and Servant, and Brennan as Juliet, Benvolio and Friar John are joined in jumps, rolls, thrusts and dives by Brendan Kane as Student 3, Mercutio, Lady Capulet and Friar Laurence and by Cody Aaron Hanify as Student 4, Nurse, Tybalt and Balthazar. Aiding their youth, strength and stamina are movement director Phie Mura and fight choreographer Matt Franta.
Written by Joe Calarco and directed by Sean F. Gray, R&J not only has individual actors performing multiple parts, but, in the case of Juliet’s authoritarian father, three actors playing one. This serves to make him all the more ferocious with the angry voices of three men.
Phillips, Brennan, Kane and Hanify all do an amazing job of tackling the physical, mental and emotional challenge of, not simply Shakespeare, which is challenge enough, but of shifting realities and characters. Hats off to Brennan, Kane and Hanify for smoothly transitioning from self-conscious campiness while playing Juliet, Lady Capulet and Nurse, respectively, into believable women.
Don’t make the mistake of steering clear of R&J because, as a friend told me, “I think I know how that one ends.” This isn’t like any Romeo and Juliet you’ve ever seen. Take a midsummer’s night and venture into the woods. You won’t regret it.
R&J continues at the Long Beach Playhouse’s Studio Theatre through Saturday, Aug. 22. Performances are Friday and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm. Tickets are $24 for adults, $21 for seniors and $14 for students. Tickets may be purchased online at lbplayhouse.org or by calling (562) 494-1014. The Long Beach Playhouse is located at 5021 E. Anaheim St.
