Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010
Ninjas and pirates take over Bard's classic tale
Rude Mechanicals open new version of Shakespeare's ‘Romeo and Juliet'
by Ken Sain | Staff Writer
Romeo Montague is the only son and heir to the most dangerous ninja clan in Verona. Juliet Capulet is the only daughter of the leading pirate family in the same town. Ninjas and pirates don't mix and these two were born to be rivals, not lovers.
But not even a Japanese manga-influenced take on William Shakespeare's classic tragedy can prevent Romeo and Juliet from meeting their doom.
The Rude Mechanicals, a Laurel-based Shakespearean theater company, opens its second production of "Romeo and Juliet" Friday in College Park. This time the story is set on the Japanese island of Kuishiu in the 17th century.
"There's always been a big conflict in the geek community between ninjas and pirates, which one is better," said Erin MacDonald, the show's director. "I usually get three different responses to the idea."
The Columbia resident said the first reaction is a puzzled look; the second is a "You are out of your mind" expression. It's the third reply that is the one she was hoping for.
"‘Oh my God, I've never gone to see Shakespeare before, but that's awesome, I'm going to go,'" MacDonald said. "That's really what I want the main focus to be, people that never would have come to see Shakespeare before to open their eyes and go, ‘Man, this isn't just for like nerds and book geeks, it's for everybody.'"
Fear not, traditionalists. You will not see major Japanese manga characters Uzumaki Naruto (a ninja) and Monkey D. Luffy (a pirate) upstaging the two young lovers. Outside of the costumes and some music, it's still more or less the Shakespeare you read in high school.
"I did cut this play from like, its originally like 4,000 lines to about 1,536," MacDonald said, explaining that most of the deleted scenes involve the parents of the lovers. "Language is all the same. ... I put in a ‘va scallywag' in there."
There is one twist, however, that traditionalists cannot ignore. In this version, Mercutio, Romeo's best friend and cousin, is a woman.
"I love female Mercutio; it's a lot of fun," said Meredith Coyle of Columbia, who plays Mercutio. "Mercutio is the best character in the play. It should always be a woman."
The change sets up an interesting love triangle dynamic to the familiar story. Benvolio loves Mercutio, who loves Romeo, who at first loves Rosaline, then falls for Juliet, whose parents want her to marry Paris.
"It's my first romantic role," said Evan Ockershausen of Laurel, who plays Benvolio. "I went into the role as a traditional Benvolio, but I got to give it that nice romantic twist. It's very, very fun to do. It's not too big of a stretch to see Mercutio as a woman if you really read it."
MacDonald said she wanted to add more drama to the relationships between Romeo and his friends and accomplishes that by adding some romantic intrigue.
"It's such a great role for a female to play, because some of those jokes are a little weird if a man says them," MacDonald said.
Playing Romeo is Mike Dombroski of Upper Marlboro, who teaches and started the drama program at Henry A. Wise High School. He said his students like the ninja and pirate twist.
"We're going to do one night at the school," Dombroski said. "The kids are excited to see the show there. I think the energy there will be really fun too."
Dombroski said this is the first time he has played Romeo. He stopped acting after high school, but he did take theater classes at the University of Maryland, College Park. He decided to get back into acting last year and performed as Marc Antony in the Rudes' production of "Julius Caesar" last year.
"It's very interesting to like college age-students and younger people," said Emma Conway of Elkridge, who plays Juliet, about the ninjas and pirates theme. "Most people are like, ‘"Romeo and Juliet." I've seen it 1,000 times. Why do I want to go see that?' When I talk to people about the concept they go, ‘Oh, that's cool.'"
The story of Romeo and Juliet is well-known, but as a new off-Broadway production proves, many have forgotten. The current off-Broadway "Romeo and Juliet" is based on people's recollections of the play with actors actually verbalizing conversations when the producer called up friends and asked them specifically what they remembered. Even drama professionals got it wrong.
"They tend not to remember a lot of Romeo and Juliet," MacDonald said. "Most people forget about Benvolio. They remember Romeo and Juliet and the whole tragedy of it, but the rest of the story and core characters they tend to forget about."
Anyone willing to brave ninjas and pirates to catch up with the most famous couple in literature has until Feb. 6.
If You Go
Romeo and Juliet
When: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Feb. 6
Where: St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 4512 College Ave., College Park; the Jan. 29 performance will be at Henry A. Wish High School, 12650 Brooke Lane, Upper Marlboro
Tickets: $15, $10 for seniors and students; call 301-490-7000
E-mail Ken Sain at
ksain@gazette.net.
AKA Egg Shen
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