San Diego Unseen: An Urban Portrait
Everybody's favorite tragic couple (Erin Petersen, left, and Michael Salimitari) will waste no time in dying for one another.
Historically, the bloodline part is the reason behind the story’s success as the definitive statement on young love—but as often as not, it takes second place to Shakespeare’s achingly beautiful language and the moving suicides. In its stab at the piece, Intrepid Shakespeare Company largely misses the angle—even so, make no mistake that there’s a lot to recommend the show. As Romeo and Juliets go, this one’s a fair model and certainly a decent beginning for Intrepid as Encinitas’ first resident professional theater.
It’s love at first sight for highborn Juliet Fiamatta Asto Capulet, 14, who first meets pedestrian Romeo Candolebonte Montague at a Capulet bash—the 16-year-old’s disguise fails to dull Juliet’s perception of the depth of his heart. The feuding grown-ups will make a mess of things as Lord Capulet (Howard Bickle Jr.) arranges for Juliet (Erin Petersen) to marry Capulet aristocrat Paris (Reed Willard). Meanwhile, each side jockeys for position in society in Verona, Italy, often to the point of bloodshed and under decree that each patriarch will be executed if there’s any more fighting. With the kids’ deaths, that decree will most certainly be carried out.
Tom Hall makes a great Friar Lawrence, who secretly hitches the kids after the Capulets’ Nurse (an excellent Savvy Scopelleti) delivers ’em to him. The Capulets stand on the brink of extinction, and Hall outfits the unwitting Lawrence with a desperation that fits the situation. And Petersen delivers a beautiful declaration of her love for Romeo (Michael Salimitari) just before Lord Capulet shows his colors, blowing his top at the thought of an inter-family marriage.
Still, directors Christy Yael and Sean Cox seem to miss the global implications. Bickle’s “Look how our daughter bleeds!” isn’t even close to the “Look how our family dies!” it needs to be; “All are punished,” Prince Escalus (Durwood Murphy) lamely declares, as if he’s sending a bunch of kids to the principal’s office rather than heralding a brutal end to the war. But if the play’s broader point is missed, the hard and intelligent work sustains the individual scenes. Encinitas can be proud to welcome Intrepid as its theatrical anchor, as surely as its residents will enjoy this show.
This review is based on the opening-night production of Oct. 2. Romeo and Juliet runs through Oct. 17 at San Dieguito Academy’s Roundabout Theatre, 800 Santa Fe Drive in Encinitas. $15-$25. intrepidshakespeare.com. Write to marty@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com.
