Shakespeare’s famous tale of love and tragedy has been read, studied, and performed by millions over the course of the last four centuries. It has become a household name, recognized as one of the most culturally significant pieces of literature of all time. So, when a director wants to put up a new production, it is pretty difficult to make it fresh.
That was the challenge for Diane Paulus, the Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director of the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.), who is directing a month-long run of Romeo and Juliet at the A.R.T. On opening night, Thursday, Sept. 5., Paulus certainly put on an impactful show. She kept to a relatively stripped-down, faithful production of the classic play, imbued with energy from the acting and simple beauty from the design. Up Here actress Emilia Suárez starred as Juliet alongside Outer Banks star Rudy Pankow as Romeo—both gave powerful performances, demonstrating their characters’ individual soulfulness while creating an extremely moving romance.
The play is set in Verona, Italy, where two prominent families, the Montagues and the Capulets, are engaged in an ongoing feud. When Romeo, a Montague, and Juliet, a Capulet, meet at a party, they fall deeply in love. Ultimately, their love leads to tragedy after they attempt to secretly resist the forces keeping them apart.
The show contained conflicting cultural indicators, ultimately not grounding itself in a certain place or time: it had an abstract set, generally modern costumes, the classic knife fights, and an ambiguous religion in which actor Terrence Mann’s Friar Laurence was more botanist than priest. While some productions will transplant the story into a setting that directly spotlights the Capulets and Montagues’ division, this one allowed Shakespeare’s language and the characters’ love to take center stage.
From the beginning of the show, the actors set a tone of playfulness, mocking one another in the opening thumb-biting sequence. This playfulness, especially showcased by Mercutio and Benvolio, Romeo’s friends, was a strong point of the production. Clay Singer was delightfully funny as Mercutio, lifting the language with physical comedy, but ultimately proving sincere in his emotional final scene. Brandon Dial was equally strong as the more gallant Benvolio, while also leaning into the comedic moments. In general, the comedy in the text was highlighted throughout the show with larger-than-life gestures, particularly for the more coarse jokes.
On the other hand, the violence was also intense from the first scene, indicating that this rivalry is brutal, primal, and unforgiving. On the Capulet side, Alex Ross was commanding and frightening as Tybalt. He was an important part of the impressive stage fighting, ultimately facing off with Mercutio and with Romeo—these fights, moving between real time and slow-motion, were realistic and convincing. Movement director and choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui did an excellent job at using that fighting, among other moments of movement and dance, to generate serious tension.
Rudy Pankow’s Romeo is a more poetic soul, contrasting with the humor of his friends. Pankow gave a classic embodiment of Romeo as a naive, hopeless romantic. He used his physicality to depict a Romeo constantly torn apart by his own feelings but unable to escape his position. Emilia Suárez was stunning as Juliet, portraying an equally emotional yet more constrained soul, who does not have the freedom to move about as Romeo does. Her Juliet was nevertheless confident and assertive, unafraid to use her voice to establish herself against her family. Both undergo growth throughout the show, gaining maturity as well as genuine hope that seemed so far away at the beginning. Their chemistry was the most beautiful part of their performances. They each came alive when together, such that the viewer could not help but smile—making their ending all the more heart wrenching.
The set was predominantly just a large wooden block that stood around 20 feet high, 10 feet wide, and 4 feet deep. It was initially moved around the stage to indicate spaces and rooms, in the absence of a more elaborate set. With a section removed in the center, the block also served as Juliet’s balcony and provided a general raised, playful space to climb on. The structure, by scenic designer Amy Rubin, proved genius as it was used dynamically in each scene, to the point where it felt like a character of its own. For example, in the party scene, it divided the space and rotated as Romeo and Juliet struggled to find their way to each other, with Tybalt hot on Romeo’s tail.
Lighting was expertly done by designer Jen Schriever. With this minimal set, most spaces were defined by the lights, clearly and easily moving us inside, outside, and between day and night. The show also lacked transitional blackouts, which created a wonderful, uninterrupted flow. The set and lights were paired with a moving musical score by Alexandre Dai Castaing and sound design by Daniel Lundberg. One interesting use of light and sound was the party scene—it kicked off with modern club music before the actors entered carrying large glowing white orbs. The technical elements made the entire scene feel like a magical, drunken, chaotic dream, culminating in the lovers finding each other in a moment of solace.
At the end of the show, after the families find the lovers dead and the final words have been spoken, the actors suddenly began constructing a full garden in the space, complete with grass raked out over the stage and flowers growing from the block where Juliet lay. It created a gorgeous final image, perhaps signifying regrowth and harmony in Verona after the tragedy. While the moment felt slightly forced and drawn out after the powerful speech by Friar Laurence had ended, it was perhaps needed to end the show on a positive tone, refocusing on the love rather than the division.
Five Harvard students were able to participate in internship roles with the A.R.T., contributing materially to the production. Bernardo Sequeira ’26 and Michael Torto ’25 are acting as understudies for Abraham, Peter, and Sampson. Dree Pallimore ’25 is interning in directing, Liz Resner ’25 in stage management, and Teddy Tsui-Rosen ’25 in sound/stage management. It is exciting to see this example of ongoing collaboration between the A.R.T. and Harvard undergraduates.
Overall, the A.R.T.’s Romeo and Juliet is a beautiful, evocative production and an example of Shakespeare’s verse being rightfully honored in the modern theater. The show runs until Oct. 6 at the Loeb Drama Center.
Andrew Spielmann ’25 (andrewspielmann@college.harvard.edu) is the Editor-in-Chief of the Independent.