Is there anything as lovely as theater in the park on a warm summer evening? That’s the concept behind Midsommer Flight’s annual summer series of Shakespeare in the park. This summer, they are performing Romeo and Juliet in six city parks on the north and south sides. We spent Friday evening in Lincoln Park to see Romeo and Juliet, skillfully directed by Beth Wolf. Ebby Offord and Faiz Siddique play the lovers, who meet cute, fall in love at first sight, and decide to marry immediately to avoid the animosity of their warring families, the Capulets and the Montagues.
The play opens with a short musical interlude performed by a few cast members, incorporating some of the play’s traditional prologue with accompaniment on guitar and drum. Interstitial music is provided by Jack Morsovillo on guitar with occasional vocal accompaniment by actors. The multi-talented Morsovillo is composer and music director, as well as the actor who portrays Friar John.
Creative costuming by Rachel M. Sypniewski outfits the Capulet family and their entourage in shades of red and the Montagues in blues. Most of the actors wear dark-toned hightop sneakers, which makes sense since they are moving around on grass, which may be damp.
Juliet and Romeo meet at the Capulet family’s masked ball, where Juliet has just met Paris (Brandon Beach), the man her parents expect her to marry. But then she meets and dances with a masked Romeo who’s there in disguise; a spark is lit and they are forever bound. Juliet is in a long white dress and Romeo wears black (both with dark hightops).
In the familiar balcony scene, Juliet perches on stacked cubes. (A half dozen of those cubes in varying sizes serve as the scenic design by Isa Noe; crew members move them around between scenes.) Offord and Siddique play this scene with great emotion and chemistry; it’s thrilling to see the two lovers become more and more connected.
Of course, both families have other ideas about the futures of their offspring. The Montagues are played by Kristen Alesia and Zach Bloomfield and the Capulets by Laura Resinger and Jonathan Perkins. Kristen Alesia plays an important dual role as the sympathetic Nurse, Juliet’s confidante.
The antagonism between the families is played out in the street between family kinsmen. Sword fights result in injury and death when Tybalt (Tristan Odenkirk) kills Mercutio (Haven AJ Crawley) and later, Romeo attacks and kills Tybalt.
Romeo consults Friar Laurence (Joe Zarrow) about an immediate marriage to his new love, Juliet. The friar is sympathetic and supportive and thus the final chapter is planned, leading to the tragic ending of the play.
Midsommer Flight’s version of our favorite Shakespearean romance is a bit abbreviated but retains all the important dramatic elements. Wolf’s direction is sharp and allows the actors to portray their characters so that their personalities shine through. The company performs with only natural light and sound so all productions are performed in daylight; the actors, with few exceptions, have strong voices. (If you have a hearing problem, I suggest you arrive early and sit near the front of the grassy audience area.)
As always, the play has an additional natural soundtrack made up of insects buzzing (are those still cicadas?), dogs barking, motorcycles roaring and occasional police sirens. During the play, a few couples strolled by on the walkway behind the stage, dressed in gowns and black tie; apparently a formal event was taking place nearby.
Shakespeare’s much-loved play about lovers is popular this year. Pride Arts staged a delightful Shakespeare’s R & J with an all-female cast in February. The Oak Park Festival Theatre is performing the play through August 17. And the excellent film, Ghostlight, by a pair of Chicago filmmakers with a cast of Chicago actors, won rave reviews last month. In Ghostlight, a blue-collar dad with a family beset by tragedy becomes involved with a community theater group rehearsing for a production of Romeo and Juliet. He and his family find that theater can help heal their grief.
Midsommer Flight notes in their program that they intend their productions in the parks to be family-friendly. However, as with many Shakespeare plays, Romeo and Juliet contains adult themes including sexual humor, violence (sword fighting resulting in death), and suicide. The audience in Lincoln Park Friday night included many grade-school age children, who got wiggly as the play went on, so perhaps they missed the tragic aspects of the story. As a parent and grandparent (with no professional qualifications to make this recommendation), I would guess that middle-schoolers might be an appropriate minimum age to see and appreciate Romeo and Juliet.
Romeo and Juliet by Midsommer Flight continues in the parks through August 4. Here is more informationon dates and locations. Admission is free. If you register with Midsommer Flight, the company will keep you informed of any changes in scheduling. Running time is about 100 minutes with no intermission.
For more information on this and other plays, see theatreinchicago.com.
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