Power and Poetry Spice This "Romeo and Juliet"

"Romeo and Juliet"

Written by William Shakespeare; directed by Rick Lombardo; choreography by Kelli Edwards; scenic design by John Howell Hood; costume design by Frances Nelson McSherry; lighting design by Franklin Meissner, Jr.; sound design by Rick Lombardo; fight director, Ted Hewlett

Featured cast in alphabetical order:

Friar Laurence, Diego Arciniegas

Lord Capulet, Steven Barkhimer

Romeo, Lucas Hall

Lady Capulet, Rachel Harker

Tybalt, Ted Hewlett

Juliet, Jennifer Lafleur

Mercutio, Joe Plummer

Nurse, Bobbie Steinbach

The New Rep's first production in its lavish new theater space at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown is both a contemporary and timeless take on Shakespeare's beloved "Romeo and Juliet." Mixing street gang toughness with exalted innocent romance, this eloquent tragedy about youthful love and lives destroyed by a world of violence and hatred is as rich in its passion as it is in its poetry.

Under the direction of the New Rep's producing artistic director Rick Lombardo, "Romeo and Juliet" becomes an earthy treatise against the kind of social and political power struggles that spawn mob mentality. The younger generation Montagues and Capulets, wearing their colors and armed with knives and swords, duke it out à la "West Side Story" while the senior family members, dressed in what looks like garish Kennedy era society garb, align with government officials and heavily armed SWAT teams to fight their ongoing battles. In stark contrast to these dark and modern symbols appears Juliet, fresh faced, wearing white, and full of teenaged naiveté and petulance. Once she meets an interloping Romeo at her family's grand masked ball, her shining influence transforms him from the sullen, macho gang leader to a love struck adolescent whose black leather jacket is eventually replaced with a delicate white linen shirt.

As Romeo, the tow headed and curly haired Lucas Hall cuts a lithe figure with just the right blend of street swagger and youthful befuddlement. He alternates capably from being passionate and amusing in his balcony scene with Juliet to being self-pitying, morose and impulsive when he believes her to be dead. Jennifer Lafleur as Juliet is exquisite. She is loving, exuberant, a little bratty, and a little spoiled in her scenes with her childhood nurse, played with punch and panache by Bobbie Steinbach, and later with Romeo she alternates between teasing and teeming with joy. As fate and the warring families conspire against her and she must choose between life without Romeo or death, Lafleur's Juliet becomes a woman of conviction and determination. She is the foundation upon which this production is built, and her performance is rock solid.

The most noteworthy supporting cast member is Joe Plummer as Mercutio. He sizzles as the Judas-like second in command to Romeo, combining a sociopathic sense of invulnerability and menace with a latent homoeroticism that drives him to duel to the death with the Capulet's tightly wired cousin Tybalt. Their fight scene, choreographed by Ted Hewlett who also plays Tybalt, is realistic, sensuous, taunting, and frightening. It escalates from boys acting out their video game fantasies to men caught up in the frenzy of their own violence. It is a stunning scene executed with great precision and skill. It is the New Rep at its best.

There are one or two moments in which Rick Lombardo pushes the envelope a bit too far in trying to infuse this "Romeo and Juliet" with a contemporary wit. His hip hop disc jockey at the masked ball is so distracting that we miss the full effect of Romeo and Juliet's first meeting on the dance floor as it is juxtaposed against the conspiratorial conversation going on above them between the Lord Capulet and cousin Tybalt. The blare of sirens and rush of armed guards in full combat gear also work against the quiet despair we should feel in the final scene as we mourn the unnecessary suicides of our hero and heroine.

These minor quibbles aside, the New Rep's "Romeo and Juliet" is a refreshingly spirited production that handles Shakespeare's vaulting prose as well as his crowd-pleasing action. A talented ensemble has inaugurated the Arsenal Center for the Arts in grand style.

Next at the New Rep: Sam Shepard's "True West" Oct. 30 – Nov. 20

Box Office: 617-923-8487 or www.newrep.org

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