Above Fancy Equipment
Review of Romeo y Julieta presented by Seattle Shakespeare Company
Written by Sharonica Joe Johnson during an Arts Criticism workshop at Glacier Middle School
Can you imagine my shock when I learned that the play I was watching had male characters that were dressed (or played) female characters? I was so happy and surprised; especially since it was Lgbtq+. As a member of the community I was so happy and excited that they did that in a Shakespeare play. If anyone was to want to start getting into Shakespeare I would tell them to watch Romeo y Julieta as their first play or read the book of it. It's really easy to understand the play once you know the plot of it and what it's about. Even though sometimes it was hard to understand what they were saying because people were talking, it was a very nice, enjoyable play and I hope to see it again one day.
Everything was really well put together; especially since they had little to no proper equipment for the play, so seeing that made me so happy because it approved that you don't need to have everything or all the right equipment to perform a play. The actors were able to change behind a black background fast and get ready for the next scene. They had very good transition music, props, and backgrounds which were very nice and fit the theme of the play and time era.
The black background they had so people could change behind it was a distraction because you'd be able to see through it a little bit. Next time I would suggest getting a better background because if people have glasses they would definitely able to see everything behind there. Another thing about the background is that they always had an outside theme, but if they had an inside theme on the other side of this pillars it would look even better because I got confused and thought they were outside the whole time. So if you go to see any play for the first time I would suggest Romeo y Julieta, but also preferably go see one in the professional theater so you have better quality of it; you'll be able to enjoy it way more than a play in a school gym.
Lead photo credit: Romeo y Julieta by Seattle Shakespeare Company. Photo by Christian Zumbado.
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This review was written as part of an Arts Criticism workshop at Glacier Middle School in Mrs. Fishman’s Language Arts classes, taught by Press Corps teaching artist Jordi Montes.
