Shakespeare’s R&J: A reimagined all-male version of ‘Romeo and Juliet’

Over the past two years, Marcel Meyer has been reintroducing Shakespeare to South Africa.

His 2017 production of Hamlet was a literal interpretation of the bard’s work, with men performing all the roles. He also presented it as the same play that was staged on The Red Dragon, a ship anchored off the east coast of South Africa in 1608.

Next month, Meyer is upping the subversion with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, except the lovers will both be Catholic schoolboys. He forms part of the duo presenting Joe Calarco’s Shakespeare’s R&J in which the two star-crossed lovers are reimagined as two adolescent schoolboys in a Catholic boarding school during the 1950s.

Their love becomes the ultimate forbidden fruit in a all-male milieu. It’s fascinating stuff.

Picture: Paul Savage

In the reworking, four pupils find a copy of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and start acting it out in their dormitory late one night. But their take on it is turned upside down as the fun of play-acting becomes serious and the words and meanings begin to hit home and truths emerge.

Shakespeare’s R&J was first presented in 1997 in New York City. It opened at the John Houseman Theatre in the city in March 1998, where it ran for over a year, making it the longest-running version of Romeo and Juliet in New York.

Calarco went on to stage the play in Chicago, Washington, Japan and London.

In South Africa, the work isn’t new, but in the era of queer consciousness it might strike an even more affirmative blow.

The show’s premiere was presented by Fred Abrahamse and Meyer Productions at the 2011 National Arts Festival. This year, Matthew Baldwin, Dean Balie, Jeremy Richard and Tailyn Ramsamy are reinvigorating the show.

Picture: Signature Theatre

Abraham and Meyer, with Pieter Toerien, the National Arts Festival, Artscape, The Market Theatre, the Fugard and the Maynardville Open Air Theatre have brought out some of the most successful Shakespeare productions in South Africa.

The repertoire includes a three-man The Tragedy of Richard III, a four-man Romeo and Juliet adapted by Joe Calarco as Shakespeare’s R&J, a six-man Hamlet and Macbeth and full cast productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Othello.

These have proved to be popular and have won over critics. Over the past decade, these productions have been presented in 27 different seasons in Africa, Europe and the US and in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Gauteng.

Info

Shakespeare’s R&J is at Pieter Toerien’s Theatre at Montecasino from August 23 to September 8.

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