Romeo & Juliet @ Plague Mask Players
—Jan Farrington
The lure of seeing a Romeo & Juliet with “older” lovers, not teens, would have been enough to get me there. But to see Steven Young and Sara Weeks playing the parts—with all their combined experience as teachers, actors, directors, playwrights, etc.—that was the cherry on the Shakespearean sundae.
Plague Mask Players formed as a virtual community of theater-makers during the pandemic, staging online plays as way of keeping their craft well-oiled—and drawing eager participants from 13 countries. Now they’ve added “live” stage productions, first with a 2021 As You Like It, now with R&J playing at the Bath House Cultural Center this weekend and next.
In this adaptation by company head Michael McMillan (who also directs), the recently widowed Romeo (Young) is father to Montague (Jake Lawrence Geary) and Benvolio (Alexander De La Cruz). He’s drinking hard, and his sons are concerned. “Teach me how I can forget,” says their father, bereft of his beloved wife Rosaline.
His friend Mercutio (Cody Magouirk) talks him into crashing a glitzy party being thrown by their enemies the Capulets—partly as a way for Lord Capulet (Eduardo Velez III) to introduce (and marry off) his live-in mother-in-law Juliet to the rich nobleman Paris (Anthony Magee).
R&J, of course, meet at the party, and it’s fascinating to hear how many of Shakespeare’s lines for them land differently. They’re wide-eyed, not because they’re teens finding first love, but because they have known love and loss…and aren’t expecting to find a soul mate. The two give Shakespeare’s light, playful dialogue a richness born of life and time. In the balcony scene, they aren’t awkward or shocked by their passion—they know this feeling, and welcome it. They play with it: “What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?” asks Juliet with a teasing smile, as Romeo eyes her and gives the stone railing a come-hither pat. They’re adult, amused, comfortable—and truly, seriously in love.
As with most big-cast Shakespeare productions, the acting pulls together lots of experience levels, and there are some rough spots (the adaptation might benefit from another “trim”). But there’s good energy onstage, the actors have a feel for the language, and there are some exceptional performances, starting with the lovers themselves. Weeks’ Juliet has a sweet, calm grace that plays well against Romeo’s old-dude swagger. “Let them find me here,” he grins, enjoying telling Juliet he’s not afraid of her “kinsmen” catching them together. They’ve both come alive.
Cody Magouirk makes a steel-edged, manic-high Mercutio (it’s a plum role, of course). E.A. Castillo is terrific as Friar Laurence; their plots and plans for the couple are clever but dangerous, and delivered with compelling intensity (though at too-low volume here and there ). Velez as smooth Capulet shows his dark side: he’s a bully to Juliet, demanding she marry the pompadoured Paris without any thought for her happiness. As Juliet’s grown daughter Lady Capulet, Samantha Calatozzo Cobb keeps her character cool and none-too-loving. And KT McGinn’s comic/brassy Nurse (Juliet’s at-home helper) is no help at all: she likes Romeo one minute and Paris the next.
The Prince (Carissa J. Olsen) is a fiery, presence, vibrating with the struggle to keep the city of Verona under control. And various young gentlemen worry, quarrel, fight with swords (kudos to the training from Bobby Garcia, Jeffrey Colangelo and friends), and meet fates fair or foul. Trey Smith is a burning-fuse Tybalt, and Romeo’s sons a study in contrast: De La Cruz’ Benvolio hyper-emotional, Geary’s Montague a man of few words.
Andres Vasquez’ lighting is atmospheric, and Jared Cobb’s original music effectively sets mood without distracting. With so many scenes, the sets (by Aidan Wright) and props (by Alicia Liberman) are nicely simple and portable. And in her other role, Samantha Cobb’s costumes and party “bling” are equal parts offbeat and interesting.
This Romeo & Juliet is more than a novelty item—it’s a Shakespeare riff worth seeing, and an introduction to some new faces I’ll be looking for on North Texas stages.
WHEN: Through February 18
WHERE: Bath House Cultural Center, Dallas (White Rock Lake)
