Theatre review: Juliet: A Revenge Comedy hits the sweet spot between witty fun and deeper insights on Shakespeare
Slapstick, sound effects, and female characters upending their fates
Carly Pokoradi plays several of Shakespeare’s doomed women in Juliet: A Revenge Comedy. Photo by Cameron Anderson
Juliet: A Revenge Comedy runs to February 23 at the Cultch Historic Theatre
IS SHAKESPEARE THE ULTIMATE quill master? Romeo and Juliet: the best love story ever inked? Can a 13-year-old truly grasp eternal love? Juliet: A Revenge Comedy throws these big questions into the mix, giving its young, titular character a chance to put in her own two cents, with a wink and a smile.
At the outset of Monster Theatre’s comedy, we become trapped in a cycle, much like Juliet herself, her tragic ending unfolding in a playfully shortened retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet that seems to loop eternally. This segment, feeling a tad drawn out, might be the show’s only snag.
Luckily, the 70-minute production’s fast pace leaves little time to dwell on it. Just when Juliet (Lili Beaudoin) is once more bound to become the dagger’s sheath, a sudden pause disrupts the flow. With the unexpected words “I’ve only known him for three days…”, the star-crossed lover veers off-script. The simple, sobering realization breaks the spell of her feverish romance, setting a whimsical journey of self-discovery off and running.
Armed with a magical object, Juliet hops between stories, bumping into fellow famous heroines with fates weirdly alike. Having taken on almost every role from Romeo and Juliet in the beginning of the show, performer Carly Pokoradi’s boundless energy now propels her into the roles of Lady Macbeth, Ophelia, Cleopatra, and Margaret from The Tempest. The thrill the actor gets from zipping between the different characters with over-the-top accents and characterizations is infectious.
Overflowing with a Pinocchio-like desire to be fully human, this version’s Juliet steps up as the intrepid shit-stirrer, coaxing the women to join her in finding out what lies beyond the page. Mixing audacity with wholehearted naiveté, Beaudoin nails the spunky Juliet’s teenage angst and existential anguish in equal measure.
Channelling an evil Geppetto, the Bard, brought to life by the show’s co-writer and director Ryan Gladstone, delivers a delightfully haughty performance. An ever-present force, he occasionally pops in, face powdered and rouged, launching into a series of Wile E. Coyote-esque antics to try and wrest back control from the rebellious heroines.
It’s all instantly charming and probably sillier than you’d expect. Cheesy sound effects are sprinkled throughout, cueing time jumps and scene changes that send Beaudoin and Pokoradi spinning across the nearly bare stage like they’re caught in a tornado. Adding to the slapstick, there’s a healthy serving of sexual innuendo and some well-earned moments of interaction with the audience.
The show’s expected level of self-awareness ranges from jabs at stuffy Shakespearian multisyllabic pronunciation of the word “banish-ed” to observations on the Bard’s occasionally dubious depiction of female characters. It’s all in fun, but the show’s cheeky and oddball conceit also manages to bring home the weightier themes.
Embracing both the absurd and the profound, the production’s simple, smart setup and upbeat feel hit the sweet spot of being witty without the show getting too cynical or full of itself. And if the constant laughter from the crowd is anything to go by, the audience was fully onboard for Juliet: A Revenge Comedy’s dizzying ride of clever, high-spirited fun.
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