| ROMEO + ...nobody. Kit Connor is perfectly cast and very good here even as he’s acting in, quite literally, a vacuum, i.e., a space entirely devoid of matter. Or meaning. Gold is really straining to be edgy and all Gen Z about this story and has, in the process, neutered Shakespeare, depriving the play of its vigor and force. And poetry. I ‘m no purist—revisionist theatre’s fine by me—but Gold’s willy nilly approach to Shakespeare particularly is routinely stupefying and, well, pretty cringe. With the exception of Connor and Taheen Modak as Benvolio, everyone here is excruciatingly out of their depth; they can neither make it through nor get around the language. Shakespeare’s speech is mostly mangled—words, words, words—sacrificed as it is to Gold’s insistent yet incoherent concept. It’s great to see so many young people in the theatre, but they deserve better. This ROMEO + JULIET is basically bunk, a grandiose and galling Tik Tok ragbag. |
