Review: ROMEO + JULIET at EPAC

Ephrata Performing Arts Center puts a fresh spin on an old classic with their production of Romeo + Juliet.  Starring Ben Galosi and Maya Burdick as the eponymous lovers, the show is an engaging mixture of realism and symbolism.  Galosi and Burdick are very believable in their characterizations and have more than enough shared chemistry to make the story work fantastically.

Too often, inexperienced actors lack trust that their audience will not fully comprehend the Shakespearean text. They grossly over-emphasize certain words or gestures to emphasize a point, or to rub the audience’s noses in it.

Not so with the EPAC cast who present their dialogue with sincerity and naturalism. Much of the credit for this goes to co-directors, Ed Fernandez and Ben Galosi, who have a good ear for the essence of effective storytelling. Likewise, Fernandez and Galosi make a great choice of presenting the show without intermission.  The actions and consequences keep piling up, and the momentum of the story accelerates exponentially.

Other stand-out performances include the cold and calculating Lady Capulet (Tetiana Dalton), the paternal Friar Lawrence (Jordan Ross Weinhold), and the sassy Benvolio (Mia Zappacosta).   Somebody needs to arrest Michael Roman for stealing every scene that he was in.  Cast as Juliet’s nurse, Roman alternates between hilarity and sobriety at a moment’s notice.  My eyes were immediately drawn to him every time he and his fan sashayed onstage.

Lighting and music were effective and appropriate. The Capulet masquerade ball was a rave, and it looked like a lot of fun. Fight choreography by Preston Cuer was vibrant and edgy.

Costume design by Lionella Darling deserves special recognition for its brilliance.  Some characters seemed influence by the punk scene, others had a goth flair, while others dressed formally.  Regardless of the different styles, everyone was clad in black. At first, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to tell characters apart-they all looked the same. 

But then, I realized, this all was done deliberately, with the costumes representing some grim foreshadowing.  By the end of the night, every character was to experience deep loss, and everyone would be connected by a communal state of mourning.

The one technical element that I didn’t like was the set.  The stage was a long, bare, elevated platform with a few random chandeliers overhead.  The back scarlet wall was adorned by several elaborately framed paintings. What was this all supposed to be?  The director’s notes explained that the show is set in a “metaphorical art gallery”, but that choice seemed out of step with the rest of the creative elements.