"...this is a sportive, vividly acted production that fails to make a convincing case for its many directorial flights and vernacular interventions. Jung and Wills have thrown much spaghetti at the 'Romeo and Juliet' wall. The result is a lot of noodling around."
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"The result is tonal whiplash from a 'Romeo and Juliet' that cannot decide whether it is a comedy or a tragedy. If we in the audience must choose, so must the creatives."
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“This new take on Romeo and Juliet immediately draws a line between Elizabethan and contemporary language, but it is a muddled and constantly shifting one…I guess if Shakespeare survived Colley Cibber and Rockabye Hamlet, this, too, shall pass. Still, there's something pointless about the effort; I much prefer wholesale reimaginations like Seize the King, Will Power's muscular retelling of Richard III, to the sort of filigree practiced here. More perplexing is the staging…a wayward collection of devices that never coalesces into a coherent point of view.”
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“In this version, which boasts a modern verse translation by Hansol Jung, I found myself longing for tragic relief so as to at least periodically feel some empathy for the star-crossed lovers. Alas, those moments are often undercut by more fooling.”
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“...Jung and Willis insert ominous touches from the start, but let the tragic developments unfold in a way that can make their sting feel, in this case, surprisingly fresh.”
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In addition to making the language truly accessible with a mix of the Shakespeare speeches we’ve come to know and love and modern verse that doesn’t take much away from the traditional experience of the vast language of Shakespeare, we are immersed in the space from the very moment we enter the theatre. We are asked to take sides…literally. A coat hanger with a makeshift sign that says “Pick Side” greets you at the entrance. Are you a Montague or are you a Capulet? The stage is a wooden circle with the audience sitting on either side.
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"Jung’s version opens as a comedy, with the audience laughing at every line, knowing the sad outcome of the tale as the play begins...Jung’s interpretation doesn’t challenge the work of Shakespeare’s classic, but enhances it by bringing her version to a new audience, and the final standing ovation was proof of her success."
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This anything-goes attitude pervades the production, most of it making little sense, and stirring the audience to laugh—and me to groan—at one lowest common denominator lazzi after the other. This is the kind of wink-wink Shakespeare, for example, where it’s considered hilarious to have the actors simulate masturbation no matter how flimsy the pretext. You can imagine the thrill the directors felt when the word “prick” raised its head in the text.
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