Romeo and Juliet
Sun, 8 Mar 2009, 02:01 pmGordon the Optom2 posts in thread
Romeo and Juliet
Sun, 8 Mar 2009, 02:01 pm‘Romeo and Juliet’s two-week season was showing at The Hayman Theatre Upstairs, until 7th March. This whole season was sold out in advance, proving the point that the main theatre should have been retained by Curtin.
The lights are raised to show a basic grey marble set (Nathan Hitchins). The people of the town are being called to prayer at the local mosque. So started this popular Shakespearean play. The visiting American director, Aole T. Miller, decided to make the Capulets a Muslim family, so elucidating the friction and at times pure hate, between the two families. Thus the play became more relevant to a contemporary Australian society.
With the assistance of Daniel Gillett, Aole has managed to get truly wonderful performances from the cast. Every intonation, facial expression, mannerism had been considered and was beautifully conveyed. The performance time of the show was over 3 hours, and yet the audience was held in total silence as each player in turn, mesmerised them. Aole Miller is renowned for his movement design, and this became one of the strong points of the performances.
The passion between Juliet (Nicole DiGregorio LaBianca) and the punkish Romeo (Josh Magee) was filled with emotion. There was a clever touch of symbolism when, at the end of the wedding ceremony, the dais split and rotated, the couple drifted apart and ended up facing away from each other.
On hearing of the love affair, Lord Capulet (Warwick Doddrell), who had already lined up Paris (Ashley MacDougall) for his daughter’s hand, cast out and disowned Juliet. His anger and subsequent treatment of his daughter and wife (Karly Pisano) was convincing and disturbing. The abhorrence of Tybalt (Lincoln Dodd) and the maternal protection of Juliet by the nurse (Alana Somerville) were portrayed with skill.
The interpretation of the characters was fresh and new. I had always suspected that ‘saucy’ – Shakespeare’s description - Mercutio (Patrick Cullen) was a ‘bit of a lad’, but here with blatant body language, the dialogue was depicted as downright bawdy. Along with his sidekick Benvolio (Laura Fullerton), they made a team with which to be reckoned.
A couple of convincing flick-knife fights (directed by Any Fraser), and the superb sound design and original music by Andy Harmsen rounded off an outstanding version of this well-known play. One of Curtin’s best.
‘Romeo and Juliet’s two-week season was showing at The Hayman Theatre Upstairs, until 7th March. This whole season was sold out in advance, proving the point that the main theatre should have been retained by Curtin.
The lights are raised to show a basic grey marble set (Nathan Hitchins). The people of the town are being called to prayer at the local mosque. So started this popular Shakespearean play. The visiting American director, Aole T. Miller, decided to make the Capulets a Muslim family, so elucidating the friction and at times pure hate, between the two families. Thus the play became more relevant to a contemporary Australian society.
With the assistance of Daniel Gillett, Aole has managed to get truly wonderful performances from the cast. Every intonation, facial expression, mannerism had been considered and was beautifully conveyed. The performance time of the show was over 3 hours, and yet the audience was held in total silence as each player in turn, mesmerised them. Aole Miller is renowned for his movement design, and this became one of the strong points of the performances.
The passion between Juliet (Nicole DiGregorio LaBianca) and the punkish Romeo (Josh Magee) was filled with emotion. There was a clever touch of symbolism when, at the end of the wedding ceremony, the dais split and rotated, the couple drifted apart and ended up facing away from each other.
On hearing of the love affair, Lord Capulet (Warwick Doddrell), who had already lined up Paris (Ashley MacDougall) for his daughter’s hand, cast out and disowned Juliet. His anger and subsequent treatment of his daughter and wife (Karly Pisano) was convincing and disturbing. The abhorrence of Tybalt (Lincoln Dodd) and the maternal protection of Juliet by the nurse (Alana Somerville) were portrayed with skill.
The interpretation of the characters was fresh and new. I had always suspected that ‘saucy’ – Shakespeare’s description - Mercutio (Patrick Cullen) was a ‘bit of a lad’, but here with blatant body language, the dialogue was depicted as downright bawdy. Along with his sidekick Benvolio (Laura Fullerton), they made a team with which to be reckoned.
A couple of convincing flick-knife fights (directed by Any Fraser), and the superb sound design and original music by Andy Harmsen rounded off an outstanding version of this well-known play. One of Curtin’s best.
Fear not, lovers of Romeo &