Unconventional adaptation of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ a great experience

“Shakespeare’s R&J” is said to be “adapted by Joe Calarco” from Shakespeare’s famous tragedy about Romeo and Juliet, but it feels like more than an adaptation. Calarco does indeed use Shakespeare’s language and plot, but he sets the play in such a novel situation that it calls up thoroughly new responses to the text. You see the shadow of “Romeo and Juliet” in the background, while experiencing a different theatrical experience in the foreground. The play begins in a private boy’s school, where four young men move from class to class: we see them in chapel, in Latin, in math. Then they begin to act out the familiar lines of “Romeo and Juliet,” dividing all the roles among themselves.

At 1st Stage in McLean, director Mark Krikstan has turned “R&J” into a taut, high-energy production, starring four talented young men: Alex Mandell plays four roles, Romeo among them; Juliet and Benvolio are played by Jacob Yeh; Mercutio, Friar Lawrence and four smaller roles are played by Jonathan Elliott; Aenaes Hemphill plays the Nurse, Tybalt and two other roles.

Very little in the way of stage direction occurs, just occasional announcements of an act or scene. Krikstan’s set suggests an unconventional, wild territory. Long branches of bamboo are lashed together in a random pattern, their dense rays creating a natural grid for the actors to climb on: several vaguely horizontal branches create Juliet’s balcony.

Peter Van Valkenburgh’s effective sound design mirrors the actors’ intense and varied emotions.

To be successful, any production of “Shakespeare’s R&J” must deliver the sense of urgency and passion equivalent to Shakespeare’s vision of two young people in love. In this production, not only is the passion clear and heart-breaking, it also suggests a whole different set of relationships among the young four young men who act out the story.

Periodically, Yeh, Elliott and Hemphill bear Mandell on their shoulders and speak together, as a Greek chorus. It creates a sense of unbridled strength, youth and idealism. And what could be more appropriate to “Romeo and Juliet” than that?