In February I caught Antonio Syxty’s staging of Romeo e Giulietta (Romeo and Juliet) at Milan’s Leonardo Theatre in a production by Manifatture Teatrali Milanesi. Syxty’s interpretation, which puts onstage nearly all the original script, has a three-hours running time, with no interval. This means the five acts are left almost intact, notable exceptions being the absence of some characters, such as Lord and Lady Montague, Peter, the Musicians and Citizens.
A director who decides to stage Shakespeare today should ideally be motivated by a strong central idea about the play and have the necessary determination and creativity to follow it through. Syxty, who has produced other Shakespeare plays in what is a forty-year career, has waited until now before dealing with what is probably the Bard’s most iconic play. In a meeting, where he presented this Romeo and Juliet, he revealed how he had felt the need “to reflect on Shakespeare’s poetic language and on the actions of those human beings in a context where there are generational, social, gender and cultural conflicts.”
The director has brought together a strong creative team to help him achieve his goal. Carmen Galli’s Italian translation, in fairly modern Italian, gives you the feeling that the characters are speaking today, and not 450 years ago. She manages to render effectively the poetry of the original script, in, for instance, the one-to-one meetings between Romeo and Juliet, or in Mercutio’s Queen Mab monologue. By contrast, Mercutio’s sometimes salacious sense of humour, full of superbly translated puns, introduces moments of hilarity in a dark tragedy.
Designer Chiara Salvucci’s set might suggest an upper-class dwelling, torn apart by conflict. It consists in a series medium-sized containers, arranged here and there. On the back wall, picture frames and their canvases are turned the wrong way round, while a flight of wooden steps stands centre stage, at the side of which, the marble statue of a naked woman looks out, her arm amputated, her torso tied with red tape. The set, which remains fixed throughout, includes a wink, thanks to the female statue, at the yoke of patriarchy, which ultimately leads to Juliet’s untimely demise and her mother’s terrible unhappiness.
Romeo and Juliet, translated by Carmen Galli and directed by Antonio Syxty. Photo credits: Alessandro Saletta.
Antonio Syxty has also opted for some unconventional casting, a decision which invites audience members to see the play afresh. In the roles of the ill-fated lovers, he has cast two actors, whose vitality and youth, rather than classical good looks, give the play an everyday earthiness, instead of the aura of romanticism that still hovers over some Italian productions. Juliet (Francesca Massari) and Romeo (Marcos Piacentini) make you think of any young boy and girl, caught up in a situation, bigger than them and beyond their control. Like Mercutio, Benvolio and Tybalt, these young lovers tear around, often entering the stage, through the audience, and making frequent direct audience addresses, all of which serves to create a strong connection with audience members. On the other hand, the parents’ generation, represented by Lord and Lady Capulet are fairly static. Lord Capulet (Gaetano Callegaro), dressed in a formal grey suit and hat, shuffles along, rarely speaking directly to Lady Capulet. The latter, played by an actor in drag (Filippo Renda), clad in a black dress and a tall hat, sits still and isolated for most of the time. It is through this contrasting movement that the intergenerational conflict and lack of communication between parents and children (as well as between the parents) are underscored. However, the absence of Lord and Lady Montague lessens the conflict between the two feuding families.
At some key moments, movement is stylised and beautifully choreographed by Susanna Baccari. The Capulets’ feast, where Juliet and Romeo first meet, does away with the realism of the dancing and servants’ stage business as they hurry around to clear away the furniture in Shakespeare’s script. Instead, most of the cast are positioned in a tightly packed group upstage, where in unison they perform small, rhythmic, repetitive movements and gestures, while downstage we watch as Tybalt heatedly argues with Lord Capulet, and Romeo and Juliet meet and fall in love at first sight. The scene, where the murder of Mercutio and Tybalt pans out, and later the one where Count Paris is slain, are likewise stylised. No swords or knives are used, but movement and gestures in slow motion effectively suggest the violence of the killings, lifting the action above the everyday, to attain the universal. Finally, the Nurse (played by Debora Virello), wearing a long red dress and a black wig, suggests a Cleopatra-like figure rather than a servant. She rhythmically chanted her lines, a choice which sometimes struck me as somewhat monotonous, only reverting to a more realistic delivery in the scene when she breaks down, taking off her wig and sobbing, to poignantly inform Juliet about Tybalt’s death.
Antonio Syxty has thus interwoven the different theatre languages – music, too, from classical to contemporary as well as lighting play their part – into a tantalising production. On the afternoon I saw the play, the audience, many of whom were teenagers, stayed attentive for this three-hour show. The final enthusiastic applause confirmed that this Italian Romeo and Juliet chimes speaks to the present.
Romeo and Juliet, translated by Carmen Galli and directed by Antonio Syxty. Photo credits: Alessandro Saletta.
ROMEO E GIULIETTA – Première
by William Shakespeare
translation Carmen Gallo
directed by Antonio Syxty
choreography Susanna Baccari
with Gaetano Callegaro (Lord Capulet), Pietro De Pascalis (Friar Lawrence), Simone Di Scioscio (Benvolio), Lorenzo Falchi (Mercutio), Francesco Giordano (Tybalt), Francesco Martucci (Paris), Francesca Massari (Juliet), Marcos Piacentini (Romeo), Filippo Renda (Lady Capulet), Simone Severgnini (Escalus), Debora Virello (Nurse)
set designer Chiara Salvucci
assistant set designer Luna Maiore
costume designer Giulia Giovanelli
lighting desginer Fulvio Melli
photos Laila Pozzo
technical staff Ahmad Shalabi and Stefano Lattanzio
assistant director and stage manager Lisa Metelli
production Manifatture Teatrali Milanesi
This post was written by the author in their personal capacity.The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of The Theatre Times, their staff or collaborators.
This post was written by Margaret Rose.
The views expressed here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect our views and opinions.
