Whether laughing, crying, or both simultaneously, William Shakespeare’s tragic tale of violent love, Romeo and Juliet, will have you feeling a wide range of emotions.
For 12 years now, Off Square Theatre’s Thin Air Shakespeare has been entertaining audiences under the summer sky in downtown Jackson. The popular outdoor production returned to the Center Amphitheater at the Center for the Arts this past weekend with a modernized rendition of the theatrical classic directed by Edgar Landa with a second run of dates scheduled for July 18-21. Each free show starts at 7:30 pm with a run time of 120 minutes with a 10-minute intermission.
Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare’s most performed plays since it was first put on stage over 400 years ago. However, it still strikes a chord in countless contemporary audiences with the celebration of young love and its wielding power within those stricken by it.
“We want the audience to understand what’s going on. So we retain the text, but every now and then adapt something to have a contemporary reference, just like Shakespeare would have done in his time,” Producing Artistic Director and actress Natalia Macker said. “I think putting it in a place where audiences might identify or see themselves really launches you into the story, and from the beginning prevents you from saying, ‘oh, this is about something that happened 400 years ago,’ but rather ‘this is about relationships that are in my life today.’
Golden Garnick, the actor playing “Mercutio”, was born and raised in Jackson and thinks that finding those nuances in a contemporary manner makes it more relatable.
“That draws people in, especially younger audiences, and they can understand it, even though the language maybe doesn’t necessarily make sense to them. You fall in love with these characters not just in a romantic way, but in a humorous way [as well],” Garnick said. “And then there’s all this violence that just happens so fast and that’s [still] common today. It’s what makes the story so heartbreaking and beautiful and why we keep doing it.”
Thin Air Shakespeare has always been free and family-friendly, with a focus on exposing the younger generation to the power of live theatre. When it comes to Shakespeare, his plays have historically been relatively informal affairs containing a lot of spontaneous audience/performer interaction that makes every show unique.
“I think seeing something real like that, particularly in a time when we spend a lot of our day in front of a screen, having that human connection where you see the sweat on the actors’ faces, you hear somebody laugh in the audience and the actor responds to it and the scene changes because of that,” Macker said. “A kid runs up the aisle when they’re not supposed to during an entrance, and that becomes a new moment in the play, and it creates a feeling of being alive.”
Although Romeo & Juliet has been around for hundreds of years there are still fresh perspectives to gain from each performance. Many years ago, Macker played Juliet in an outdoor Shakespeare production and remembered the play only ever as a love story. Now the mother of three young boys, Macker sees the production through an entirely different lens.
“This play is about a lot more than just a love story and needing to understand the husband/wife, mother/father relationship that propels Juliet and creates these high stakes for her,” Macker explained. “When I connected to the play as a younger person playing Juliet I didn’t explore it in the same way. But my [recent] experiences have brought that new layer. And that makes this a beautiful, multi-generational play because of how where you are in your life will connect you with different characters.”
Off Square Theatre hopes the free run of theatrical shows will captivate young and old audience members alike, creating an emotional experience that leaves a lasting impression.
“I want people to find the humor in the shocking,” Garnick said. “It is heartbreaking, but it’s like, ‘oh my gosh, I can’t believe that happened.’’’
Listen above for KHOL’s full conversation with Off Square Theatre’s Producing Artistic Director Natalia Macker and actor Golden Garnick.
