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CHAMPION -- Kent State University at Trumbull Theatre mixes the traditional with the nontraditional with its approach to William Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet."
Drawing inspiration from Richard Burton's and John Gielgud's "Rehearsal Hamlet," director Eric Kildow doesn't try to hide the artifice of the theater.
The actors initially appear mostly in black, stretching and chatting like they're getting ready for a rehearsal, not a performance.
They soon put on costumes, but anachronisms remain. As Juliet, Rachel Conrad wears a dress appropriate for a period production, but her Chuck Taylors remain visible throughout. "Sword fights" play out with actors wielding yardsticks instead of swords. Mercutio and Benvolio carry wind-up flashlights.
Kildow said in an interview last week the purpose of the approach is to put the emphasis on the words and the acting over the visual trappings, and oftentimes that approach makes this 425-year-old play feel fresh and vibrant here.
Sometimes productions hold Shakespeare's words with such reverence that the performers emphasize the language instead of the emotions behind it.
Kent-Trumbull is best at avoiding that pitfall in what arguably is the play's most famous moment -- the balcony scene.
The way Conrad and Mattie Blickensderfer as Romeo interact and make those familiar words seem so natural, it felt like young lovers expressing their feelings, not two actors performing one of the most famous scenes in Shakespeare's canon.
There are points when the dialogue feels too tossed off and occasionally isn't projected strongly enough by the actors to hear, but it works more often than not.
Kildow's casting choices also make the tragedy reverberate in different ways. In this pared down version, which runs just under two hours with no intermission, several of the male characters are played by women.
While Romeo is the largest role played that way, the most impactful change is Julia Ruggirello as Romeo's friend Mercutio. Not only does she enliven every scene she's in, but having a woman play the character works as a sly commentary on the machismo and anger issues that prove to be the downfall of both Mercutio and Peter Byrne's Tybalt.
As the Nurse, Liz Conrad both delivers some of the more humorous moments in the play and also its most heart wrenching with equal skill.
Except for Rachel Conrad and Blickensderfer, the rest of the cast (Dakota Smith, Edward Jordan, Destiny Ross, Marissa Keshock, Liz Conrad, Byrne and Ruggirello) each play two roles. Costume shifts avoid any confusion, the production serves as a roadmap for others on how to present the play with a smaller and less-male ensemble.
While the emphasis is on the performances, the tech elements are strong throughout. Jenna Jamison's set design is multifunctional and serves the production well. Cordell Ramsey's lighting design added to the impact of the balcony scene and other pivotal moments, and Kimberly Gapinski's costumes efficiently use one or two pieces to define the look of the character and the period setting instead of a head-to-toe makeover.