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Courtesy of Marin Shakespeare Company
The observation that "Romeo & Juliet" — the story of two teenagers who get wrapped up in a meaningless family conflict that resolves in gory murder-suicide and disappointingly little sex — has been misidentified as Western civilization’s most enduring love story is not new. This author is not the first to wonder why the crowded pantheon of tales competing for the title Greatest Love Story Ever Told —
Gone With the Wind,
Titanic, etc. — are grotesque tragedies far removed from what most couples hope to include in their “how we met” stories. Once we admit that a 13-year-old repeatedly threatening to stab herself is no sane person’s idea of romance, it becomes clear that "Romeo & Juliet" is a psychologically seductive emotional drama is on par with "Hamlet" and "Macbeth." And the Marin Shakespeare Company succeeds with a classical interpretation in a gorgeous outdoor setting that shows how a romantic comedy and a tragic romance can be one in the same.
Indeed there is enough in the first two hours of "Romeo & Juliet" to make an Oscar Wilde comedy. The play opens under Currier’s direction with a joyous skirmish between servants of the two families, whose empty threats and “thumb biting” are at once comical and gloomy predictions of the violence that will ensue. Adam Roy, as a Capulet servant, seizes each of his moments on stage with comedic mastery. This production highlights themes of duality again and again through clever costumes and through moving dexterously between humor and tragedy, young and old, happenstance and destiny.
