As the late great Elvis Presley once sang, “Wise men say, only fools rush in. But I can't help, falling in love with you.” William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet beautifully illustrates this timeless truth. On Tuesday, November 3, the American Shakespeare Center returns to UMass on its 2009/2010 Rough, Rude, and Boisterous Tour, presenting the classic tale in its own inimitable style. The production is co-sponsored by the UMass Fine Arts Center and the Massachusetts Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies. For tickets and information, call the FAC box office at 413-545-2511 or 1-800-999-UMAS; order online at https://umafacweb.admin.umass.edu/Online/.
With its ravishing language and uproarious comedy, Romeo and Juliet celebrates Love’s triumph and its trivialities. Verona’s walls embrace the volatility of youth as well as the wisdom and restraint that often escape young and old alike. Dance, athleticism, and swordplay share the stage with sonnets, bawdy wit, and soul-searching speeches in this profoundly human and always surprising masterpiece.
ASC’s production features Brandi Rhome as Juliet, and Josh Carpenter in the role of Romeo. Josh has appeared onstage professionally in New York and around the Northeast; Brandi appeared as Ophelia in last year’s ASC performance of Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at UMass, and has an impressive string of professional credits in New York productions.
Director Jim Warren comments, “An element of timeless truth in R&J is that young people often have sex on the brain; it's a play filled with some of the bawdiest humor Shakespeare ever wrote. These Capulet and Montague teenagers are fixated on sex, sexual humor, and plain 'ol dirty jokes - just like teenagers today and teens of every era. The crushed-velvet Shakespeare‚ that many romanticize as high culture‚ has given us the preconceptions that R&J is just some sort of sanitized and beautiful romance; but the first half of R&J is probably the funniest (and bawdiest) first half of any play in his canon. I believe that this humor allows the tragedy of Mercutio's death and the second half of the play to resonate on a deeper level. I say it often about Shakespeare's plays: it's a drama, it's a comedy, just like life.”
By following the basic principles of Renaissance theatrical production, the American Shakespeare Center gives its audiences some of the pleasures that an Elizabethan playgoer would have enjoyed. This includes using universal lighting, doubling of parts, and a certain amount of gender confusion. Minimal sets, costuming appropriate to the status and role of the character, and music throughout the performance reproduce 16th century conditions as best can be deduced from period records. The result is emblematic of their approach-a commitment to Shakespeare's text and to the mission of connecting that text to modern audiences.
The Massachusetts Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies is an internationally renowned center for the interdisciplinary study of the culture and achievements of the Renaissance period (1400-1700). The Center contributes to the field of Renaissance studies through research, teaching, and outreach to the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus, the Amherst community, and beyond. For more information about the Center and a full calendar of activities, visit the Center’s web page at www.umass.edu/renaissance.
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