BORDERING ON TRAGEDY

Saheem Ali’s politically charged staging
complicates Shakespeare’s timeless tale—
but the young lovers still shine through

This year’s Shakespeare in the Park presents the Bard’s most enduring love story, Romeo & Juliet, where bright youthful innocence collides with dark adult cynicism, and love finds itself trapped in a feud so ancient that no one remembers why it even began. With Saheem Ali directing and Maruti Evans crafting the scenery, Public Theater’s production appeared to be a match made in theatre-heaven, making the rain-soaked wait outside the Delacorte Theater in Central Park feel like a gamble worth taking.

Instead, the stage was a desolate cemetery, with a towering border-wall-like fence clearly evoking the U.S.–Mexico border wall and, beyond it, colossal white statues of the Madonna and Death. From the beginning, the symbolism struck me as strident rather than illuminating and its openness made intimacy hard to achieve. On the same creative wave, Ali’s decision to portray one family as border guards and the other as immigrants/activists alters the play’s moral geometry: a tragedy of mutual fault becomes a conflict between oppressors and the oppressed. There should be no difference between the Capulets (Juliet’s family) and the Montagues (Romeo’s), neither clan is inherently better than the other.

Despite being burdened by all this confusing symbolism, the play itself was delightful. Daniel Bravo Hernández, as Romeo Montague, portrayed the ideal electric, poetic 16 year old who begins the play devastated over one girl and ends it willing to die for another. As Juliet Capulet, Ra’Mya Latiah Aikens matches Hernández’s passion beat for beat. Though Juliet is only thirteen and often the unhappiest person in the room, Aikens brings a dose of sparkling cheerfulness into all that impending doom.

Glenn Fleshler’s Lord Capulet and LaChanze’s Lady Capulet are the kind of hip parents who seem delectably sensible right up until their daughter develops opinions of her own. Their love for Juliet feels real enough but it never outranks their devotion to social standing, and both actors successfully make that contradiction sting. Across New Verona, Jason Manuel Olazábal and Mariand Torres play Romeo’s parents as caring and concerned, but they are completely powerless over their son’s decisions.

The Nurse and Friar Laurence are the closest thing Romeo and Juliet have to competent adult supervision. Francis Jue plays the Friar with confidence and boundless optimism, selling the notion that a secret marriage, a fake death, and a carefully timed message are all perfectly manageable actions to solve the problem. Meanwhile, Deirdre O’Connell‘s Nurse, warm-hearted and brilliantly funny, offers Juliet the sort of support that every teenager needs.

Caleb Joshua Eberhardt as Romeo’s friend Mercutio turns any line into a performance, often stealing the spotlight. Slick, witty, cynical, and endlessly entertaining, he rolls his eyes at love until love rolls right over him. A more traditional Benvolio, played by Zack Lopez Roa, spends most of the play trying to stop people from fighting, making him the least dramatic person in a very dramatic situation. By contrast, Ariyan Kassam‘s Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin, treats everything as a matter of life and death, always one comment away from drawing his sword and demanding a duel.

As most people know, Romeo and Juliet’s secret romance sets off a series of disastrous consequences. Among them is the matter of Count Paris, a sincere and honorable suitor whose marriage proposal to Juliet receives her father’s enthusiastic approval and a wedding date with disturbing speed. Martin K. Lewis plays him as the ideal son-in-law, the perfect obstacle to a love story you cannot hate. Meanwhile, Friar John, played by Sergio Mauritz Ang, accidentally changes the plot by failing to deliver a letter, and Balthasar, played by Reece dos Santos, Romeo’s loyal servant, informs the young man immediately of Juliet’s presumed death.

Chaos takes over, and Prince Escalus, played by Jessica Pimentel, functions as Verona’s overworked administrator. Her Capulet-adjacent costuming muddies her presence visually, but she is unmistakably the one shouting for calm and dishing out punishment while everyone else escalates. Rachel Crowl’s compelling portrayal of the impoverished apothecary is also marked by an unusually stylized costume that obscures her desperation, even as her words make clear that she is trapped between extreme poverty and the moral weight of causing a death. The costume design by Oana Botez is inventive and visually striking, but it also adds to the ambiguity surrounding character identity and factional alignment. Marlon Xavier rounds out the talented ensemble as Pedro (Peter), the servant.

When Hernández and Ra’Mya Latiah Aikens, as Romeo and Juliet, speak of love, they often shift into Spanish (translated by Alfredo Michel Modenessi), and the transition feels seamless and entirely accessible. The production is also strongly supported by its creative team: Mayte Natalio (choreography), Christopher Akerlind (lighting design), Mike Tracey (sound design and system), Michael Thurber (music), and Krystal Balleza (hair and makeup) all deliver excellent work that supports the production throughout.

70 years before Shakespeare, Luigi Di Porto, an Italian writer, wrote a novella titled Newly found story of two noble lovers. He set the story in Verona, named the lovers Romeo Montecchi and Giulietta Capuleti, and established the feuding families alongside the central characters. Shakespeare, however, captured the intensity of first love with extraordinary language, grounding the emotions in authenticity, and shaping a tragedy that doesn’t feel contrived. Saheem Ali cuts some text, and layers in multiple meanings (religion, ICE, the border wall, fascist imagery, confusing costumes) that obscure the narrative clarity, and while his creativity is undeniable—his production of Twelfth Night last year was unforgettable—this staging feels uneven. That said, this production is still worth seeing. For New Yorkers and visitors alike, Shakespeare in the Park remains an essential summer experience, one that more than justifies the challenge of obtaining tickets. It is part of The Public’s annual summer celebration of Shakespeare for the City. Free. For All. Forever.

The Ensemble: Andrés Nicolás Chaves, Jacquernst F. Filias, Gilda Mercado, Tina Muñoz Pandya, Fedra Ramírez Olivares, Piper Runge, Miles Segura.

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photos by Joan Marcus