Review: Strong Performances in 308's 'Romeo & Juliet'

Editor's note: This review was submitted by Emily Bryan, Director of Education at Shakespeare on the Sound

If you didn’t get to Theatre 308’s Romeo and Juliet at DHS this weekend you missed some wonderful theater.  

Under Gabriel Morrow’s direction, Theatre 308 students presented a Romeo and Juliet with strong performances, a simple, but elegant set, evocative sound and lighting design and all in two hours traffic on the stage! Kudos to Mr. Morrow and his text advisor, Andrew Rejan for skillfully giving the students a well-paced script.  

The set, a wooden catwalk with struts and several staircases, gave the actors great space to use, and created beautiful stage pictures.  With 80’s love songs coursing through it, this production emphasized the romantic ideal of the play, rather than the politics of feuding families.  

In the title roles, Daniel Traver (Romeo) and Claire Hilton (Juliet) were engaging and likeable.  In particular, Juliet’s speech before taking the potion was compelling.  I have rarely seen a Juliet who I actually believed saw her cousin’s ghost when she calls out “Stay Tybalt!” and Ms. Hilton convinced me.  

Traver’s Romeo was brash and immature.  The moral anchors of this production were the Nurse (Kristen Misthopoulos) and Peter Traver (Friar Lawrence).  They each gave complex performances.  Friar Lawrence’s entrance was a high point of the performance.  

Standing under the catwalk, his arms outstretched as if in prayer, he sang the Friar’s first lines as a monastic chant.  Peter Traver’s lyrical voice made this entrance a terrific counterpoint to the brawl on the street that opens the play.  Peter Traver captured the Friar’s compassion and nervousness excellently.  

Equally strong in a complicated and funny role was Kristen Misthopolous as the Nurse.  She was very comic in her dark sunglasses bantering with the excellent Carson Stewart as Mercutio.  

Her relationship with Juliet was touching.  When she betrayed Juliet by telling her to marry Paris and forget Romeo, Misthopolous shook out her hands before delivering the advice, poignantly suggesting that she had to get over her own qualms too.  

These characters show the Shakespearean twist in this play -- sometimes adults are as rash and ill-advised as teenagers.  The devil is in the details with Shakespeare -- even his smallest characters like the Apothecary (well done by Ford Thompson) have rich backstories and Mr. Morrow’s cast was committed to all the parts.  

The audience was treated to many excellent portrayals: a great Shakespearean death by Dylan Gabriel as Tybalt, an appropriately surly Peter (Francisco Sucre), an interesting gender-bending performance by Katy Murphy as Benvolio that depicted some real truths of the friendships in this play.  

The parents of the star-crossed lovers were ill-equipped to deal with the emotions of teenagers.  Mr. Andrade as Capulet was a real threat to Juliet’s happiness and an example of the menace in the play. 

Besides Mr. Andrade’s performance there was not an overwhelming sense of darkness in the production as there are in some versions of this play, which often give the tragedy greater emotional impact.  Ultimately, like an 80’s power ballad, this production was an indulgent exploration of love.