“Romeo & Juliet; Virtually”

Before there was internet, before television, before the telephone and telegraph, there was Romeo and Juliet, the oft-told tale of star-crossed lovers and the warring families that are the death of them. Needless to say, Shakespeare couldn’t have conceived of a performance where his characters never come face-to-face. But these are pandemic times, and pandemic times call for inventive measures.

That much can certainly be said for Romeo & Juliet; Virtually, which has the Montagues and Capulets in quarantine, where they meet and love and clash and die on Zoom. How well it works depends largely on what you’re looking for, but there’s no denying that a lot of work has gone into this re-imagined classic.

First off, let’s be frank: if you’re unfamiliar with Romeo and Juliet, this is not the way to get your first taste. In the interests of briskness so as to avoid trying your online attention span, director Miles Berman and adapter Steven Vlasak have cut their source material by half ― losing, for example, all Montagues save Romeo and Mercutio. (Mercutio’s not actually a Montague in the original, but here he’s combined with some of Romeo’s kinsmen.) More importantly, by removing the section referring to the fact that Romeo is head-over-heels in love with someone else before he ever meets Juliet and instantly transfers his affections to her, this RAJ pivots away from one of the play’s central themes: the fickleness of young love. (Remember: Shakespeare’s Juliet is just 13 years old.)

Instead, Berman and Vlasak load their thematic eggs in the intolerance/hatred-of-the-Other” basket. We don’t know wherefore the Montagues and Capulets began their feud, but it’s clear that now their beef is based on otherness. (Tybalt: “[…P]eace? I hate the word / As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee.”)

But is that really what Romeo & Juliet; Virtually is about? Probably not. More than anything, this show seems to be a simple entertainment and perhaps this is where it most succeeds. For starters, it’s good fun watching how Berman and co. move the action forward without ever (well, almost ever) bringing the characters face-to-face. The screen (a YouTube live stream) is an ever-shifting array of rectangles whose size and orientation vary from scene to scene, as the characters Zoom in pairs and groups, on laptops and smartphones, stock still or in motion. This show is not a staged reading: it’s a fully blocked theatrical event. Yes, it’s loose, but it’s anything but random.

Despite the above-mentioned loss of the fickleness theme, Romeo & Juliet; Virtually maintains the self-important immaturity of Shakespeare’s characters in the form of everyone’s need to broadcast their lives online. More than the COVID-19 pandemic (a bit of backdrop made explicit by an opening newscast and the Capulet Family’s Zoom Masquerade Quarantine Party), it’s the new normal of 21st-century online living that frames why these characters are looking at each other on screen rather than eye-to-eye. (Frames it, but doesn’t always explain it. Don’t go looking for logical consistency ― just make room under the suspension-of-disbelief umbrella that is status quo in theatre.)

Although no-one’s going to confuse her with a 13-year-old, Stephanie Kutty imbues Juliet with an appropriate TikTokish callowness. Her life is drama, and she’s the star, living nothing but the highest highs and the lowest lows  ―  and always into the camera. Hopefully Paris Moletti can better join her in that juvenile space by bringing more animation to his Romeo during the show’s short run. (I caught a press preview, so expect a bit more polish by then.)

On the whole the acting is more than adequate. This is not a Shakespearean troupe, yet they manage the dialog just fine. As Pops Capulet, John DiDonna is exceptional, the kind of guy I always want with my Shakespeare. And the entire cast manages to contemporize their characters, sometimes to the point of fully naturalizing them (e.g., Myles McGee’s Mercutio).

Essential to the entertainment value of this project are the laughs, almost all of which emanate from the performers rather than the Bard. (R&J is not one of his wittiest.) The standout here is Amber Stepp as Nurse Nan. The dialog between Stepp and Kutty is some of the play’s best stuff (it helps that Juliet and Nan’s being constantly in touch is one place where the internal logic of why they’re online works perfectly); and Stepp slays as a verklempt wedding guest.

Although Romeo & Juliet; Virtually is not a proper introduction to what may be Shakespeare’s most famous work, it’s certainly a look at what can be done to keep theatre (a)live during the current plague on all our houses. And hey, you just might be entertained in the process.
Romeo & Juliet; Virtually by Miles Beyond Entertainment

Times: Friday–Saturday 6:00 p.m. (log-on/preshow begins at 5:30 p.m.)
The show runs through August 29
Cost: $7-$9
Details: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/6970
Venue: Hollywood Fringe Festival Online