Romeo and Juliet visit KU
One of Shakespeare’s most renowned works, “Romeo and Juliet,” was performed by the company, Actors from the London Stage at Schaeffer Auditorium this past Friday and Saturday nights, as part of the KU Performing Artists Series.
The lights in the auditorium dimmed and signaled the beginning of the play, at exactly 7:30 p.m., as scheduled. The stage lit as five actors entered to a round of applause from the audience. These actors, covering all 34 minor and major roles in the play, used few props and no backdrop setting.
Surrounding the actors on stage were 12 red cushioned chairs in a semicircle, some of them with scarves and capes draped over the backs. These costumes were used to distinguish between the many roles each actor played with specific colors for specific roles. The only other props used were sticks as swords. The minimal setting did not hinder the audience from enjoying the play. Drawing laughs where appropriate and dead silence during the serious, more dramatic parts, the actors conveyed the play as well as if there were one actor for each role, slipping in and out of roles as quickly and effortlessly as possible.
When a character was killed in the play, the actor would lie on the stage floor, not moving, until pronounced dead, in which case the actor would get up, take off the costume, leaving it on the floor to act as the slain body. The actor then slowly moved to the side of the chairs, looking as if they were the character’s soul rising from their body to sit on the sidelines and watch the living.
Tybalt, played by Martin Parr, is convincingly slain by Romeo, in revenge for Mercutio’s death. Also playing the roles of Friar Laurence and Lady Capulet, Parr switches roles on stage seamlessly.
Playing the roles of Paris and the nurse, among others, Liz Crowther believably comforted Juliet through her joyous love and heartbroken sorrow.
Marshall Griffin played Balthazar, Lord Capulet and Mercutio, as well as other more minor roles.
Jennifer Higham and Geoffrey Lumb, playing the roles of Romeo and Juliet, respectively, are both new members of the Actors from the London Stage, acting for the first time with the company on the stage of Schaeffer Auditorium. While it is their first time with Actors from the London Stage, these young actors had quite the resumé before joining the company. Higham appeared in such plays as “The Woman Hater,” “The Internationalist” and “Rope,” as well as film appearances in Metamorphosis, Cassandra’s Dream and Ella Enchanted.
Lumb graduated from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and went on to work with the English Touring Theatre, Northampton Theatre Royal and two seasons with The Royal Shakespeare Company. Lumb has also acted in other Shakespeare plays such as “Much Ado About Nothing,” “King John,” and “The Taming of the Shrew.”
Although the play received a generous response from most audience members, a few of the play-goers criticized the lack of microphones on the actors. Sylvia Heckler, and her husband, Reverend Willus Heckler, had trouble hearing some of the actors. Sylvia commented, “They need microphones. We are hard of hearing which is a disgrace that we’ve come to enjoy a play and cannot hear well enough to enjoy it.”
These five actors played their multiple roles with vivacious energy, and brilliant acting. Performing a Shakespearean play with five actors is an amazing and trying, yet rewarding and prideful skill. Making “Romeo and Juliet” more than just another Shakespeare play for a student to read for class, the actors brought the play to life on campus for the two nights that they were in Kutztown. Ultimately, $10 a ticket was a fair price to ask to see this classic play.
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