If you think you know Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” inside and out and are hesitating to see another production of it at Synetic Theater, think again. To begin with, this is one of Synetic’s famous silent productions, where director Paata Tsikurishvili finds alternatives to Shakespeare’s poetry and prose in movement, mime, dance and music, using an imaginative new physical vocabulary to tell familiar tales. So no matter how many conventional productions of “Romeo and Juliet” you may have seen, this one will lodge in your memory not only for the picture it paints of exquisite love, but also for its exuberance, its comedy and its image of a vibrant, passionate Verona.
The set for this “Romeo and Juliet” is designed by Anastasia Simes and its theme is time. A large pendulum dominates the stage and periodically moves from side to side. The backdrop is the inside of an old-fashioned clock, where gears of every size intermesh. Throughout the production, actors dance onstage twirling hand-held gears. The result is an ever-present notion of time, suggesting how quickly life goes, how much time Romeo and Juliet have together.
| IF YOU GO |
| Where: Synetic Theater, 1800 South Bell St., Arlington |
| When: Through Dec. 23 |
| Info: $45 to $55; 1-800-494-8497; synetictheater.org |
The main characters in this production are portrayed by Alex Mills and Natalie Berk, the quintessence of youthful high spirits. The masked ball where they meet includes an intricate dance, meticulously choreographed by Irina Tsikurishvili, designed to show off the grace and athleticism of Berk and Mills. When the elaborate music by Konstantine Lortkipanidze stops, the rest of the dancers disappear and Juliet and Romeo are alone onstage and suddenly in love, minutes after meeting.
Philip Fletcher plays Romeo’s good friend, Mercutio, who convinces him to crash the Capulets’ ball. In this production, Mercutio is a comic figure as well as a comrade, particularly in an extended dance sequence with the Nurse. Tsikurishvili makes the Nurse both funny and profoundly dedicated to the welfare of Juliet.
Lord Capulet is played with authority by Peter Pereyra, who demonstrates all his power by a mere hand gesture. Salma Shaw is a graceful Lady Capulet. Irakli Kavsadze shows his great acting range as Friar Laurence, who is both serious and comic, at times in rapid succession. Vato Tsikurishvili is powerful in the role of Balthasar.
Colin Bills’ effective lighting bathes the stage with shadows and occasional bursts of vivid light. Simes contrasts the basic black of most of the costumes with the brilliant colors of Juliet’s clothes.
“Romeo and Juliet” is the third and last in the “Speak No More” series at Synetic. With “Macbeth” and “Othello,” it offers proof that Synetic has succeeded in doing what it set out to do in 2002, to capture the mythic qualities of Shakespeare without using his words.
