REVIEW: Shakespeare & Company, “Romeo and Juliet”

Shakespeare & Company, Lenox, MA

www.shakespeare.org

July 12 – August 10, 2025

by Simon Brighenti

“Unexpected” is not a word you might expect in a review of a play written over 300-years ago which has been performed in one form or other thousands if not millions of times. But there are many moments in this production of “Romeo and Juliet” for which the audience may not be prepared.

Photo by Nile Scott

Co-Directors Kevin G. Coleman and Jonathan Epstein have taken the most famous and familiar work in Shakespeare’s canon, shaken it up, and put it back together as an eminently accessible surpassing whole. There is humor (including bawdy wordplay), vigorous choreographed stage movement, a funky musical interlude – anachronistic but well fitting with the characters-and some occasional antic full-cast comedic shenanigans perhaps more expected from Benny Hill rather than the Bard. Even moments of interplay between the performers and the front row theatregoers take place, as is usual with S&Co. But it all works. The audience loves it.

Of course, the main tragedy involving the star-crossed lovers Romeo (an expressive and athletic Caitlin Rose) and Juliet (Ashley McCauley Moore depicting true emotion and a superb confidence) is full tilt out there. The supporting cast is excellent; Madeleine Rose Maggio brings the part of the Nurse to a boisterous yet loving life, a talented Rory Hammond’s Lady Capulet evidences a tenderness but resolve in ensuring her daughter does not age out of her opportunity for a proper marriage, and Juan Luis Acevedo inhabits the role of a proud Italian paterfamilias with a swagger and vigor.

Swordplay involving Romeo, Tybalt and Mercutio is well staged and unfolds in dramatic fashion. It is not easy to present “stage combat” in a manner that is authentic to the period, realistic and which does not distract from the accompanying dialogue and exposition. Timing and pacing are everything; nationally renowned fight choreographer Jason Tate handles the task deftly.

The staging is spare but effective; the setting of Shakes & Co. Amphitheatre in one of the most picturesque bucolic areas of the region if not the country, bringing a sylvan serenity to any performance. The uniqueness of the venue offers the audience somewhat of a “peek behind the curtain”; after doing their bit, the performers can be discerned on the ambient hillside running hither and yon to hit their next mark.

The music, to an extent playing the part of the ominous weather so prominent in much of Shakespeare, includes original themes by Daniel Levy, the talented composer, musician, and singer known for scoring more than 40 regional productions. Levy’s lush score adds an appropriately somber and portentous enhancement at the appropriate moments with a few familiar snippets sprinkled in.

As with any outdoor performance space, the weather is always a potential factor. And even as dusk settles in on a warm summer day, the temperature can drop quickly. Bug spray is always a good idea.

To paraphrase the Bard, this is a Romeo and Juliet with a beauty too rich to be missed.