Off-B'way Review: Romeo and Juliet

Ra'Mya Latiah Aikens and Daniel Bravo
Hernandez in Romeo and Juliet.
Credit: Joan Marcus 

Many years ago when I was acting in a community theater production of The Skin of Our Teeth, one of my castmates railed against an all-African-American, Off-Broadway production of The Cherry Orchard, claiming black actors did have the “cultural background” to perform Anton Chekhov’s classic of displacement in a Russian family. What would he have made of Saheem Ali’s politically charged production of Romeo and Juliet currently at the Public Theater’s Delacorte in Central Park? (Ironically it was also the Public Theater which produced that all-black Cherry Orchard.) Ali sets Shakespeare’s immortal tale of star-crossed lovers in what appears to be a little town on the southern side of the U.S.-Mexican border. “Nueva Verona” is listed as the locale in the program. Set designer Maruti Evans places an enormous replica of Trump’s unfinished wall at the back of the stage with huge figures representing death and the Virgin Mary peering over the top. Death is ever present with the main playing area representing a graveyard with tombstones scattered about and three performers in dark robes and sporting Georgia O’Keefe-like cattle-bone masks hovering on the edges of the action. The transfer from the Elizabethan era to modern Central America does not diminish Shakespeare’s timeless message.

Daniel Bravo Hernandez and Ra'Mya
Latiah Aikens in Romeo and Juliet.
Credit: Joan Marcus

In addition, much of the dialogue between the titular besotted teens is performed in Spanish. Some of Ali’s choices deliver a blurry result, but the Bard’s overall impact is still strongly felt. His theme of division among community causing tragedy despite young love comes across with devastating power, featuring luminous performance from Daniel Bravo Hernandez and Ra’Maya Latiah Aikens as the tragic lovers. The rival houses seem on to be on opposite sides of the immigration question, even though the town appears to be entirely in Mexico. The Capulets are apparently authoritarian officials with Lord Capulet dressed by costume designer Oana Botez in a black military Mussolini-inspired uniform and his nephew Tybalt is played as a thug from ICE. Meanwhile, Romeo’s pals Mercutio and Benvolio side with anti-ICE protestors who deface the wall with graffitti-ed slogans. Perhaps it would have made more sense to use the wall to split the stage in half rather than putting the wall at the back. 

The sociopolitical milieu brings the play up to the present moment, but does not obscure the central passion. Both Aikens and Hernandez convey the throes of first, unbridled amour as well as the awkward, giddy excesses of adolescence bordering on maturity. Their connection is strongly felt and we know what they are saying to each other even when they express their emotions in Spanish. 

Ariyan Kassam, Zack Lopez Roa,
and Caleb Joshua Eberhardt in
Romeo and Juliet.
Credit: Joan Marcus

Ali delivers a proficient and detailed production, although he does make some cuts and alterations which detract from the main focus. At the party where Romeo and Juliet meet, the director gives Lady Capulet a pop duet with her daughter, perhaps because the former is played by Broadway musical star La Chanze. The song is lovely, but takes away from the full impact of the lovebirds’ first encounter. (Dazzling colorful costumes by Botez here.) In the final scene in the Capulet tomb, Ali has eliminated Juliet’s final dialogue with Friar Lawrence and the fatal duel between Romeo and his rival Paris, making the tragic conclusion feel rushed and anticlimactic. Dueling swords are replaced by guns, rendering the deaths of Tybalt and Mercutio too quick.

La Chanze, Deirdre O'Connell and
Ra'Mya Latiah Aikens in
Romeo and Juliet.
Credit: Joan Marcus

The supporting cast creates a vibrant and conflicted community. Glenn Fleshler is a fiery Lord Capulet and La Chanze a compassionate Lady Capulet. Caleb Joshua Eberhardt instills Mercutio with a blazing intensity. Ariyan Kassam is a molten Tybalt and Zack Lopez Roa a faithful Benvolio. Deirdre O’Connell’s worldy-wise, countrified Nurse seems like a Texas resident who crossed the border. She provides sturdy support as does Francis Jue as a sympathetic Friar Lawrence. In the tiny role of the Apothecary who sells Romeo poison, Rachel Crowl creates a vivid impression of desperate poverty.

Despite the missteps, this Romeo and Juliet brings the ancient enmity between the two households into the 21st century and proves Shakespeare’s words can be played by anyone in any language from any culture.

June 11—28. The Public Theater at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, entrance at W. 81st St., NYC. Running time: two hours and 45 mins. including intermission. Free admission.