Romeo and Juliet Rehearsal

As an observer of Romeo and Juliet rehearsal, I entered through the walls of Verona into a world of wooden daggers, tennis shoes, and first kisses. Putting on Shakespeare’s most famous play is no easy feat, as the tale of Romeo and his “three-hours wife” has enjoyed (or endured) countless retellings in countless varieties. But under the direction of Sara Holdren, the ASC Theatre Camp is tackling Romeo and Juliet with a vivaciousness you will find nowhere else. One of the most significant rehearsals I’ve sat in on was the cast’s first run-through. In the words of the director, “This is the first time you guys get to put the whole thing together. Keep your energy up. Keep your focus up”. Sara encouraged the actors on this intimidating day, when all of the lines, entrances, and blocking have to be at the front of each actor’s mind in order to make the run-through efficacious.

Run-throughs always begin with a fight call, where the actors lace up their sneakers and briefly practice all the show’s fight scenes at a slower tempo than they will use in the actual performance. This way, the actors won’t be going into these scenes cold during the run-through, which could result in confusion and possible injury. Stage combat in its essence is ironic because it’s the exact opposite of fighting. The fight partners work hard together, sharing weight and doing as much as they can to support each other in this mimic of a fight. Fight call is both an opportunity to practice the physical progression of the fight and also the accompanying vocals and expressions. One camper watching the fight call scenes praised Tybalt’s “troll face” that intimidated the entire room. Sara encouraged the actors to experiment with their pain noises and to imagine a realistic reaction to a sudden cut to the hamstring.

After fight call, the cast formed a circle to warm-up physically and vocally. It’s important that the campers’ bodies are fit to perform an active hour’s worth of brawls, dancing, and dying. Likewise, the shouting matches and the language in this play call for an extensive warm-up of the voice as well. The cast practiced lip-trills to loosen the lips, sirens to use the full vocal range, and overdone diction to ease the delivery of lines. The last warm-up is always an energy warm-up, as it’s crucial to build up enough energy to last through an hour of performing. Starting low to the ground and in quiet voices, the cast began to chant, “Ooh I feel so good, like I knew I would!” As they repeated this line again and again, the campers became increasingly loud and wacky until they were shouting and jumping into the air ecstatically. With a huge burst of energetic expression, the cast was now ready to tackle the play.

One of Romeo and Juliet’s biggest challenges is the “transition from a world that’s full of humor to that great tragedy” that Sara identifies as one of this cast’s biggest successes. This was profoundly evident from watching the run-through and the reactions of the cast further underscored that importance, when they served as audience members for the scenes they were not in. Almost Mercutio’s bitter death speech brought almost half the cast to tears. During the big fight between Mercutio and Tybalt, the cast watching divided and cheered them on, chanting “Mercutio! Tybalt! No, Mercutio! No, Tybalt!” In the middle of the Juliet and Romeo’s first encounter, Sara suddenly called out, “I’m so sorry, but this is where the first kiss is. You guys better get used to doing this!” The entire room blushed as the pair “let lips do like hands do.” From tears to heated shouts, gasps of surprise to reddened cheeks, this cast has the ability to affect and move each other through an entire range of emotions that Romeo and Juliet calls for, as a romantic tragedy.

While watching the rehearsal process, it’s easy to imagine you are with these characters inside the church’s tomb, until a hilarious mishap pulls you straight back to 2012. As Juliet awoke from her poisonous sleep, she accidently elbowed her dead husband, prompting an “Ow!” from the miraculously and momentarily arisen Romeo. It’s fun, light-hearted moments like this that alleviate the serious and hard-working tone that runs through rehearsal.

Rehearsal ends with notes, a reflective time when the director and assistant directors share comments, suggestions, and changes they’ve noted throughout the run-through. The campers write down their notes in their script margins and will try to incorporate them in the next run-through. While Sara found places in every scene that needed adjusting, she stressed that they had had an outstanding first run-through, and are well on their way to a polished product.

When asked to describe the cast, Sara was eager to praise this talented group, saying that they are “really brave and really willing to throw themselves as deep into the play as it calls for. They’re a great group, they’re funny, hard-working, very brave, open honest with each other, good listeners. They’re a group with a really good energy, with a nice feeling of ensemble”. Sara’s favorite part of rehearsals so far has been “the energy and the commitment level of the kids because I’ve seen versions of this play done by adults where the energy levels haven’t gone as far as the play asks for emotionally”. And it shows, as Sara and the cast do a wonderful job of using the youth of these actors to make Romeo and Juliet a thoroughly convincing tale of young love.

The performance of ASC Theatre Camp’s Romeo and Juliet, along with Twelfth Night and Gallathea, will be on 11:30 Sunday, July 8th at the Blackfriars Playhouse. Admission is free.

--Emma Lo