R&J, a gender-reversed Romeo and Juliet

This is a strong ensemble piece with a unique perspective on an important story - the company of "R&J" works efficiently and passionately to give audiences the gift of Shakespeare's language. ... full review

This production gave me new insight into the story of Romeo & Juliet. Not because the gender reversals made a grand comment about society and gender roles, but because the gender reversals made the characters no less whole. Where most productions of Shakespeare plays struggle to make either the concept modern or the style classical, this production made classical characters modern. I got to see timeless characters as people in my world. I got to see the question of how to treat innocence, tested in a timeless space. ... full review

I don't know what to make of this production. I've seen so much Shakespeare, and I've seen it done every which way: all female, all male (Merry Wives), all one race, SUPER diverse, etc. I have never seen an R&J with Romea and Julian, however, and I was hoping that it would blow my mind and my socks off. I couldn't hear the actors, and to be honest, I didn't believe the performances. Mary Ellen Schneider was a sweet Romea, but she played him like a dude, so what's the point? It seems like the gender swapping wasn't well thought out, and the actors were basically playing across genders... So they're both trans? Doesn't make make sense. I was also bummed by the lack of diversity in the cast, especially since the whole point of Fringe is to ... full review

Let’s get this out in the open: I don’t think the concept of Romea and Julian works. I really like my iambic pentameter (I am of the pretentious ilk that went to school for theater), and the syllabic switching between “man” and “woman” and other various gendered words in the Bard’s script didn’t sit well with me. Would I be down for a cross-dressed Romeo and Juliet, with all the male roles played by females and vice versa, but the script remaining unchanged? Oh hell yes. Doing so might make this production of R&J work better too; as it is currently, director Abby Craden is trying so hard to convince the audience that Julian is a dude and Romea is a lady, and the effort is a bit too evident. That being said, given how many actresses th... full review

I confess to being very confused by the production. In this modern twist on Shakespeare’s classic Romeo and Juliet, women play men and men play women. Or rather, women play male characters as men and men play female characters as women…I think. My confusion comes with the use of pronouns and lack of consistency in the costuming. For example, Romeo is played by a woman and is now called Romea (Mary Ellen Schneider) and referred to as “she” and “my wife” but she’s playing the role as if she were a man. The same is true of the rest of the female actors. Their stance and posturing is male, and their energy is masculine, but they’re still referred to in the feminine. They’re even dressed mainly in gender-neutral leggings and vests with a mascu... full review