O Romeo, What are You Saying?

I went in to watch to see BYU's performance of Romeo y Julieta with interest, but not really knowing what to expect at all. I have studied Romeo and Juliet before (as every high school student has) so I was luckily familiar with the plot. This was fortunate both because I don't know a lick of Spanish beyond uno, dos, tres, and because the delivery of the play itself was kind of sloppy.

For starters, the bilingual aspect. I loved the idea of the Montague's and the Capulet's speaking different languages. It served to be a very obvious representation of the barrier between the two families. What it did for me was open my eyes a bit. While I've always thought that the hatred between Shakespeare's two family houses was rather dumb, having the two families speak in different languages seemed to symbolically expose the differences between them. Perhaps the hatred that Shakespeare wrote between the two families was based on something as irreversible and innate as language.

I must admit, however, that while the idea of the two families speaking different languages was wonderful in my eyes, it did get a little confusing at times. The two families at times have no problems communicating with one another, which made the use of two languages seem pointless. Additionally, some of the actors/actresses missed the mark delivering their lines which made it difficult to follow the scene for someone who only speaks English like me.

One thing that caught my attention was how easily the sets changed. Everything moved quickly with as little action as possible between scenes so that the story could flow quickly. Knowing that this sort of play is one meant to travel made this even more obvious. Everything from the costumes to the sets to the overall atmosphere made it clear that this was a story adapted for younger audiences to enjoy as well as older ones.