Young & W!LD
Tan and Wee as The Bard's most well-known couple brought to life an ardent romance.
Local theatre company W!ld Rice updates what is said to be the greatest love story of all time, bringing a distinctively modern and Singaporean touch to the tragedy of Romeo & Juliet.
Immediately striking was the sparseness of this production, performed on a bare concrete incline. The stark nature of the set was a metaphor for the rigidity of Verona, a city governed by wealth and status, which director Ivan Heng has likened in interviews to Singapore.
The set calls to mind the bare bones approach of W!ld Rice's recent productions – last year's one-man show The Weight of Silk on Skin, starring Heng, and the hugely popular political satire Cooling Off Day, were both performed on near-empty stages. Does it work this time? Yes and no.
The vast stage allowed the actors to carve out pockets of space in busier scenes, such as the Capulets' feast where the young lovers, played by Hansel Tan and Julie Wee, first laid eyes on each other. The stolen glances between the pair, even as Juliet danced upstage with Paris (Dwayne Tan) and Romeo lurked downstage admiring her from afar, were sweet and spicy at the same time, bringing heightened anticipation to one of the play's better-known scenes.
But when a Shakespearean play written for a different era is void of the visual cues to transport the audience there, it takes a greater leap of imagination for them to believe – and this was true of set designer CK Chia's version of Verona.
This was exacerbated by the awkward inclusion of an animated backdrop, which seemed almost like an afterthought. It first featured in the Capulets' feast, with a circle of masquerade masks spinning above the actors as they danced. Perhaps it was meant to convey the heady confusion of the ball as the family lines of Capulet and Montague were thrust aside by the young lovers - a clumsy and rather unfortunate use of symbolism, if that was the case. The backdrop was further employed in a fireworks display that had most of the cast riveted during Romeo and Juliet's lip lock, but while passion ignited downstage, the sparks that flew on the projection appeared lackluster in comparison.
Tan and Wee as The Bard's most well known couple brought to life an ardent romance, Wee being particularly earnest as the sheltered daughter of rich, overbearing parents. Choosing love over duty, she was fearful, but determined, bringing to life the layers of Juliet's complex personality.
It is worth noting that Shakespeare envisioned Juliet as a teenager, no more than fifteen, despite how she is often perceived in popular culture as an adult. Wee's portrayal of Juliet understands this - she slips from petulant child to headstrong lover in a heartbeat, nimbly treading the edge of adolescence and womanhood. Yet she struggled, at times, with vocal muscularity, her voice sometimes a sliver too thin to carry through the theatre – which is a pity when it means that some of the emotional intensity is lost during her monologues, particularly after she discovers that Romeo has been banished from Verona.
Tan, too, was confident, both in the tender moments and the high-intensity fight scenes. His Romeo was appropriately sensitive and love struck in the iconic balcony exchange, yet man enough to spill the blood of Tybalt (Brendan Fernandez), though he did come across as a moody teenager after he was banished – an impression that was partially created by his hooded sweatshirt, one of several very modern outfits the characters wore.
Another much-touted aspect of the play was the fight scenes put together by Lim Yu Beng. The fights were more choreographed than realistic, but they were beautifully choreographed at that. Part acrobatic display, part dance, part martial arts, they were set to a Hollywood-esque soundtrack and spaced out comfortably across the large stage.
Here, Fernandez as the insouciant Tybalt shone, dominating the brawl with his physical aggression and a hateful snarl. Fernandez's Tybalt perhaps best embodied the senselessness of the Capulet/Montague family feud, steeped in animosity without reason. In every appearance onstage he was the embodiment of unquestioning, fervent loyalty.
Special mention must also go to Neo Swee Lin as Juliet's nurse, who elicited the most laughs from the audience. Neo, clad in the traditional Chinese costume of an oriental buttoned-up shirt and black pants, played the matronly nurse with comic aplomb. Delivering physical pratfalls and speaking in a Singlish accent, she was perhaps the most accessible character onstage.
But above the riveting fights and the comic elements, there is no escaping the fact that Shakespeare's story is ultimately a tragic one. Yet we can't help rooting for the blossoming of young love, even as we know the star-crossed lovers are speeding towards their inevitable end. It is testament to the actors, and to Heng's creative choices, that I believed in this Singaporean version of Romeo & Juliet.
There is no opulence or elaborate setting in this version of Shakespeare's classic, and fair Verona is all the better for it. Stripped to its bare essentials – bodies on a stage responsible for language and emotion – the play was an enjoyable and credible journey, retelling the familiar story of young, impulsive love with honesty and heart.
Special mention must also be made of the strong supporting cast, some of whom were sheer delights to watch, and who brought some much-needed humour and levity to this otherwise tragic cautionary tale.
Thanks to his apt pacing and impressive choreography, director Ivan Heng has been largely successful in his aim to "update Romeo and Juliet so that audiences would be able to see the play with today's eyes and to listen with today's ears". While certain (unnecessary) multimedia moments sometimes detract from onstage action, the created world is real enough for us to be emotionally invested in its characters, and to be rooting for (some of) them from the start, despite knowing their doomed endings.
Michelle Tan, 15 Apr 2012 (3.5 out of 5)