Matthew Krouse
Malcolm Purkey’s current student production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet goes for relevance without being self-consciously ”relevant”. The simplicity with which this age-old tale is treated is indicated by the minimalist set designed by drama students Bruce Meier and Nick Petters.
The production takes a contemporary look at the post-adolescent traumas of the two who’ve become virtually universal symbols of a love that flounders under adversity.
After Baz Luhrmann’s movie William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet of 1996, it seemed that nothing emanating from the Shakespeare factory would ever be quite the same again. The godlike Bard, himself, seemed to have been reduced to a flourishing of Hawaiian shirts, flashy guns and interesting beards. What started out amazing on celluloid looked less amazing the third time one saw it replicated on stage.
How nice, then, to see a bunch of university drama students – usually the most over-zealous fashion victims of all – not going for the obvious. Purkey’s production seems to bristle more with the confined energy of youth than overflow with it.
The production is set in urban South Africa, using low-key costuming to indicate the different strata of the society portrayed. Of course, much of Shakespeare’s work is about the interplay between servants and snobs – so, given our history, these are intrigues that work particularly well. If Purkey’s cast is anything to go by, the live stage is becoming well-equipped with a new generation who understands the complexity of class relations without being too heavy-handed about it.
Gone, thank heavens, are the days when Shakespeare had to be used to say something critical about apartheid. These days, it seems that his words are well- suited to comment on the role of violence in hip-hop and rap. This may very well be because the now generation listens to pop music that places unprecedented emphasis on the spoken word – and Shakespeare’s poetry isn’t far off.
In addition, the production succeeds because it seems to take its cast’s reality into account. Believably, Romeo and Juliet – played by Jacques Blignaut and Caryn Davidoff – fall in love across the racial divide. Unbelievably, their parents are played by youngsters their own age. This is something one has to be prepared for when attending student drama, in the first place.
Romeo and Juliet, and this production in particular, could provide good discussion for life-skill exercises in the classroom. Interestingly, the production was structured around a FNB Vita-funded schools tour conducted by Purkey and the cast over the preceding months. By visiting over 20 schools they have been sharing knowledge on Shakespeare and finding out what it is that schoolgoers are required to know about their set works.
This has increased the production’s depth of field, and it shows.
Romeo and Juliet shows at the Wits Theatre on Jorissen Street, Braamfontein, until April 2