R&J, a gender-reversed Romeo and Juliet

#SeeItLA - Mine is Yours has a well-cut, fast paced R&J that gets you from beginning to end with no intermission. I can't say that I had any huge epiphanies or insights into the story by seeing it gender switched, but it was definitely intriguing to see these well-known scenes played from the perspective of the opposite gender. In particular, my favorites were the scene where Romea goes to the Friar after slaying Tybalt and then subsequently when Julian goes to the Friar for a solution to marrying Paris. Both of those played very well with the switched genders. Dane Oliver, as Julian, Mary Ellen Schneider, as Romea, Alan Blumenfeld, as nurse, and Cj Merriman, as Tybalt, all delivered impressive performances. My only complaint is that I would... full review

If tough women and gentle men don’t sound like the dramatis personae of any Shakespeare play you’ve ever seen or read, the time has come to meet the characters who populate R&J, A Gender-Reversed Romeo And Juliet, a production so all-around superb that it is “Hollywood Fringe” in name only. Click on "Original Article' to read my full review at StageSceneLA.com... 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