Hard-rock tragedy: Marin Shakes reimagines ‘Romeo and Juliet’
Hard-rock drama is trending in Marin County. The same weekend that Marin Theatre closed “It’s True, It’s True, It’s True,” a punk-rock 1612 courtroom confrontation, Marin Shakespeare Company opened a related interpretation of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” the enduringly popular tragedy about a pair of doomed, star-crossed young lovers. The production is part of Marin Shakes’ “Shakespeare for Student Audiences” series.
Marin Shakes Artistic Director Jon Tracy has stripped the story — and its setting — to the basics in what’s essentially a black-box performance where the only set is a large painted square on the floor, the size of an Olympic wrestling mat, and the only set piece is a tall roll-around scaffolding. He’s even truncated the title to bring it more into the present.
Its feel owes as much to shows like “Rent” and films like “The Wanderers” as it does to “West Side Story,” the modern reinterpretation, but without soaring, heartfelt music and elaborate dance sequences. Instead, the dark scenes are punctuated by short blasts of instrumental hard rock, but never a full song. The style of presentation very much alludes to experimental theater of the 1960s and ‘70s, the exact opposite of the sumptuous full-immersion production put on by the Throckmorton Theatre in 2019.
In Tracy’s take, there are still young people aplenty hacking and slashing at each other in the streets of Verona, Italy, but without gang colors to identify their loyalty to the feuding Capulet and Montague families. Many of their outfits — costumes by Madeline Berger — purposely convey the alienating don’t-mess-with-me vibe visible on any modern city street.
Instead of swords, they go at each other with realistic-looking hunting knives and throw each other about like mixed martial arts competitors. Fight director Dave Maier, who also appears as Friar Lawrence, did an amazing job coaching the mostly young cast. They hit the floor hard and often and with such velocity it’s surprising that no one’s been sent to the emergency room — at least, not yet.
The story is bookended with the dead-and-dying young lovers (Alejandra Maria Rivas as Juliet, Ash M.B. as Romeo). There’s no opulent party at the Capulet mansion and no distraught prince admonishing his misbehaving citizens, but the core story remains: an intractably attracted young couple meets an unhappy end due to an ongoing feud between their families. Like so many others, the feud’s origin is lost in time.
There’s much bloodshed, typical in Shakespeare’s tragedies. Juliet’s cousin Tybalt (Z Hansen) kills Romeo’s friend Mercutio (Carla Gallardo) and Romeo in turn kills Tybalt. All of it is effective and believable. The mostly young performers are exemplary in delivering ornate dialog while swinging fists, thrusting daggers and wrestling in hand-to-hand combat. Maier, as noted, and Aisha Rivera as the Nurse, solidly anchor this unusual production.
Shakespeare, incidentally, didn’t invent the story but elaborated on ancient tales of tragic young lovers. Passionately performed, this “Romeo/Juliet” won’t win any converts among traditionalists, but it’s a great example of what can be done with a tremendous story and a committed cast. It runs only through this weekend.
Barry Willis is a member of the American Theatre Critics Circle and president of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. Contact him barry.m.willis@gmail.com.
If you go
What: “Romeo/Juliet”
Where: Marin Shakespeare Company, 514 Fourth St., San Rafael
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Admission: $15 to $40
Information: 415-499-4485; marinshakespeare.org
Rating (out of five stars): ★★★