Romeo and Juliet (review)

To challenge any romanticized preconceptions, the Actor's Shakespeare Company brought a contemporary spin to their 2010 production of Romeo and Juliet. Through the selective infusion of "Emo," a movement known for its depressing song lyrics and "skinny jeans," the ASC certainly stayed true to the text. By splicing the play with elements of a trend accused of over-dramatization and inauthenticity, the ASC left their audience skeptical of this love-story-gone-wrong and ultimately asked them whether the lovers' demise—toward which the plot famously barrels—is marked by a faux fate.

An apt complement to a play featuring angst-ridden, privileged teenagers, "Emo" has gained major recognition in recent years. Often accused of glorifying self-mutilation and suffering, the movement's roots lie in subcultures such as "punk" and "grunge," trends often associated with small, independent record labels, "underground" music scenes, and confessional song lyrics. While born in the '80s and reinvented in the '90s, the movement went "pop" in the early 2000s when it officially gained its name, an abridged reference to its stereotypically "emotional" followers. While its present aesthetic is similar to that of its predecessors, Emo's swift gain in popularity offered more curse than compliment to those linked to the genre. In major backlash to the popularity of the movement, most now shy away from identifying with it—no doubt a result of the highly-commercialized, mainstream status that has stained its authenticity.

Given the layers of meaning associated with "Emo," it is not surprising that by braiding its now well-recognized elements into their late-2010 production of Romeo and Juliet, the ASC offered audiences a chance to view the lovers much more cynically than do most productions. While a trend bound with melancholic young people surely fit the world of the play, very recent cultural implications linking "Emo" to fashion-conscious suburban teenagers who have it all (yet sing about hurting themselves anyway), encouraged a modern audience to take a realistic look at a play known for its glamorized suicides.

Unlike many contemporary takes on classics, which typically embrace only one style at a time, the ASC's Romeo and Juliet boldly blended "Emo" elements with traditional early modern dress, creating a drastic cultural divide on stage. At first, it appeared that this production would keep strictly with the ASC's tradition of exploring the Elizabethan staging methods employed 400 years ago. Establishing a setting marked by feud and controversy, the play opened with a fast-paced, old-fashioned duel featuring players clad in elaborate Elizabethan dress. Soon, however, the action was interrupted by the sound of purposefully loud microphone feedback signaling the Duke's speech, which was delivered via off-stage loud-speaker. The noise called to mind the contemporary sounds of rough-edged, under-produced indie music and continued to punctuate key moments throughout the entirety of the play.

The first to visually represent the contemporary "Emo" style, Romeo entered wearing slim-fit pants with small-cut ankles, a fitted collared shirt and a thin tie as he took the stage amongst others in traditional clothing. His straight jet-black hair, porcelain skin, and somewhat effeminate stance starkly contrasted with the world to which we'd been introduced. He dragged his feet and whined about his lost love stating that "sad hours seem long" when "out of her [Rosaline's] favor." The audience immediately recognized...