“Romeo and Juliet” at Unexpected Stage (Review)
Unexpected Stage's elderly Romeo and Juliet is a bit retiring
For all the many variations on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, one thing has remained pretty constant: the two star-crossed lovers at the heart of the play are portrayed as teenagers.
Does it have to be that way? Would it work if the story was about elderly lovebirds instead? Unexpected Stage decided to challenge itself by pursuing this idea — casting septuagenarians in the lead roles of Romeo & Juliet: Love Knows No Age (
), and setting its adaptation in a retirement community. The company’s Christopher Goodrich argues in a Director’s Note that his twist is a pushback against our youth-obsessed, aging-averse culture — where we’re all getting older, not younger, and living longer — as well as the recognition that new, passionate love can happen to anyone at any age.
Of course just as surely, that new, passionate love can also quickly lead to an untimely death by suicide. In some sense, it’s worse: As heartbreaking as it is for a teenage couple committing suicide because society forbids their love, it becomes downright depressing that senior citizens might feel and do the same. And really, why do they? Goodrich only made a few tweaks for his adaptation, wanting to leave the original play pretty much intact — but this leads to confusion and worse. For example, Goodrich’s principal change was to have the Montagues and the Capulets become the lovers’ adult children, not their parents. Yet Lord Capulet (Josh Adams) is still very much a disciplinarian, barking orders, yelling insults and even slapping Juliet — his own mother! Why she allows him to treat her that way is a distressing mystery. Also puzzling: Why does Lord Capulet remain so insistent that Juliet marry Paris (Ken Lechter) even after her little girl-like pleas that she doesn’t care for him? As his mother, she’s paid her dues and deserves more control over her own life.
A further problem is the acting, which isn’t as much of a saving grace as it should be. At least Claire Schoonover is a highlight as a refined Juliet. And you can also understand why she falls for Elliott Bales’s Romeo: His impetuousness may be their ultimate undoing, but that and his gregariousness also help draw her out. –Doug Rule
Romeo and Juliet: Love Knows No Age runs to Aug. 10 at Randolph Road Theatre, 4010 Randolph Road in Wheaton. Tickets are $16 to $27.50. Call 800-838-3006 or visit unexpectedstage.org.
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