When love is deemed forbidden there are only two choices: accept what you cannot change or fight to change your destiny.
In the Scarborough Players (SP) production of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, two lovers decide to go against everything and follow their hearts, proving love is stronger than any obstacles it may come up against.
When a community theatre group stages Shakespeare, often the criticism is that the plays are too difficult to pull off, whether that's because they are likeable to only a select audience or the company lacks the talent or resources to make the production believable.
The Scarborough Players not only proved those criticisms to be unfounded, but staged such an impressive production of Romeo and Juliet that it proved you don't have to go to Stratford to watch a quality, professionally done, theatre production.
Romeo and Juliet fall in love despite the feuding of their families, the Capulets and Montagues. Their future forbidden, being caught would mean being exiled by their families.
This feud is clear as the show begins with a heated sword-fight in the streets of Verona, Italy. No sooner does that happen when Romeo (Damien Gulde) tells his cousin Benvolio (Luke Slade) and friend Mercutio (Chris Coculuzzi) that he's fallen in love.
After some coaxing, he admits that it's Juliet (Lana Sugarman), of the Capulets and his family's arch rivals, who has captured his heart.
Despite the attempts to make him reconsider, Romeo can't help who he loves and he attends a masked ball being held at Juliet's home that night.
Betrothed to a royal named Paris (Abbas Hussain), Juliet cannot help but fall in love with Romeo that night, and the next day, the two are secretly married by Friar Laurence (George Bertwell) and determined to make a life together.
But after another sword fight erupts resulting in the death of Juliet's cousin Tybalt (Zak McKendrick) by Romeo's hand, he's forced into exile and the two lovers have to make some risky decisions if they ever have a hope of being together.
No production of Romeo and Juliet would be complete without a balcony, and this was the focal point of this set, which otherwise was minimal. But with so many talented performers, the stage was never lacking in interest.
Shakespeare is hard enough to portray with lengthy dialogues of outdated words, but this cast were entirely immersed in their roles.
From the sword-fighting to the way they carried the audience for the almost three-hour show, the work that went into this show was clear.
Marisa King did a fantastic job directing. The scene changes were flawless and the show had a great fluidity to it.
Gulde and Sugarman were phenomenal as the forbidden lovers, but talent oozed from this cast with other notable performances including Bertwell as the friar, Deva Neely as Nurse and Coculuzzi as Mercutio, both of which brought energy to the show.
This show is long, Romeo and Juliet's love can seem overdone and too sweet for some and it's Shakespeare, not everyone's cup of tea. But, like Shakespeare or not, as far as productions go, this one was well done and you have to give credit where credit is due.
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The remaining shows for Romeo and Juliet are April 16-18, 8 p.m., at the Scarborough Village Theatre, 3600 Kingston Rd. Tickets are $17, $14 for seniors and students (Thursdays and Sundays only). For tickets call 416-396-4049.