Planet Webcast: Off Square brings flare to classic 'Romeo & Juliet'

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

By Grace Hammond

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Watching “Romeo and Juliet” is like catching a flick about the Hindenburg or the Titanic. You know the characters are doomed, yet you sit through it, your heart accelerating as a series of tiny mistakes coalesces into one big, fat tragedy. It’s a terrible thing to witness – which may be why audiences keep coming back.

“Shakespeare, to me, has always been a very live playwright,” said John Briggs, director of the Off Square Theatre Company’s new production. “His themes certainly haven’t grown stale.”

Briggs and Off Square, the resident theater company at the Center for the Arts, are set to reveal with a flourish an over-the-top, grandiose and classically staged production this week, with the first show at 7 p.m. on Thursday at the Center Theater, 250 S. Cache St.

This kind of flamboyant and elaborate production is the antithesis of the Off Square’s recent triad of black box plays. Whereas you could count the number of actors in the black box plays on one hand – heck, for “Stones in his Pockets” you’d only need the fingers it takes to make a peace sign – the Shakespeare play features dozens of performers, as well as swearing, fighting, dancing and killing.

In the character-driven black box series, the actors carried the weight of the plays on their shoulders, said Jamie Reilly, who appeared in “The God Committee” in September and has now been cast as Tybalt in “Romeo and Juliet.” In the Shakespeare production, “We’re going to be fed a lot more by the atmosphere of the set and the stage,” he said. “The acting is competing with a lot more – props, costumes, the set – and the challenge here is to not lose the relationships on stage.”

There are plenty of corners Briggs could have cut. Productions of “Romeo and Juliet” have historically involved an element of cherry-picking – adding and subtracting to make the play easier, more interesting or more modern. One director axes the sword fights; another inserts Leonardo DiCaprio to cry a lot and carry on.

In Off Square Theatre Company’s production, the swords are real. The company brought in Sword Fight Director Michael Jerome Johnson from Washington, D.C., to coach the actors with intensive workshops on rapier and dagger. Johnson holds the rank of Senior Instructor with Dueling Arts International as well as Fight Director and Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors. His work was recently seen in the world premiere of “BURN” at the New York International Fringe Festival.

The fights encourage an “awareness of space,” Riley noted. The stage simply cannot be ignored – it is a living, breathing part of the actor’s experience.

The cast has different levels of affiliation with Jackson Hole. Some of the players are newbies, in the area for the first time. Others are down-home, true-blue local favorites. Kevin Asselin, formerly of Chicago’s Shakespeare Theatre, plays Mercutio.

“He brings his talent with working with Shakespeare and is a certified stage combatant,” Briggs said. “There are three major stage fights. We needed people who could make [them] look really spectacular.”

“Romeo and Juliet” will be Kelly Buoma’s first show with Off Square. She takes the role of Juliet and has been performing in Chicago for the past two years. Andy Liegl looks the part of Romeo – those eyes, I tell you – and spent the summer acting in California. He is certified in rapier, dagger, quarterstaff and broadsword.

It may seem like Off Square can’t make up its mind about what kind of company it wants to be, but John Briggs said, “We’re doing [a classic play] because it fulfills part of our mission to make sure our community has the opportunity to see all kinds of theater, including classical. It’s better for our artists and it’s better for our audience.

“We’re performing in this new center and creating scenic elements that are the likes of which you would only see at a major regional theater,” Briggs continued. “And that’s our goal: to become a major regional theater.”

Briggs thinks it has been up to eight years since a Shakespeare production has graced a local stage.

“It’s a classic, but Briggs has added some pomp and vigor to it, as he’d say,” said Emy DiGrappa at Off Square. “I just don’t think you’d have the opportunity to see the caliber of this cast in this region otherwise.”

Catch the fights, tears and tragedy at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights through Nov. 17 at the Center Theater, 265 S. Cache St. There also will be special matinee showings at 3 p.m. on Sunday and on Nov. 11, and at 2 p.m. on Nov. 10.
Tickets are on sale now. Prices vary with performance day. Call the Center Box Office at 733-4900 or contact the Off Square Theatre Company at www.OffSquare.org or 733-3021.

Photo by DEREK DILUZIO
Duel! Jackson Hole’s Jamie Reilly and Chicago’s Kevin Asselin come to blows during rehearsal for “Romeo & Juliet.”


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Planet Webcast: Off Square brings flare to classic 'Romeo & Juliet' | Planet JH News Article: News Podcasts

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