Director Sam Gold’s revival of Romeo + Juliet successfully reinvents itself for a Gen Z audience. It includes various details that modernized the play while still keeping the traditional script. This adaptation embraced the young love of the characters while keeping in the key details of its consequences.
The biggest question going into this play was “How was Sam Gold able to make Shakespeare relevant to Gen-z ?” This started with his casting of the main characters, selecting Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler, two of today’s biggest stars, to portray Romeo and Juliet. Connor is most commonly known as Nick Nelson from “Heartstopper” and Zegler is most commonly known as Lucy Gray from “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.” These two have proven to be very influential among Gen-Z which is a big factor as to why this play is so attractive to the younger generation.
While waiting in line to get into the theater, it was noticeable that much of the audience that was showing up early was younger and thrilled at the thought of seeing Kit Connor in person. Although the excitement was high and the long awaited moment was closing in, the thought still lingered, how were they going to pull off this adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” while incorporating music and audience interaction while using the original 1579 script.
One thing that was intriguing that kept the audience engaged was the actors’ delivery. Their delivery set the mood for each scene, both the funny moments and the deeper moments. The dynamics of the scenes were so different but well executed. When it comes to incorporating the old with the new, delivery is extremely important to express the characters’ true feelings to the audience. Their delivery of each phrase helped further develop the true feelings of each character, whether it was grief or excitement, they were able to stick to the original script while making it sound modern and young. The audience was able to laugh at the more light and funny moments like the dialogue between Romeo and Juliet; when Romeo was too nervous to speak to Juliet, the audience could hear the anxiousness in his voice but also the uncertainty in the way he delivered each word.
While the play was cut short compared to the original play, it didn’t feel rushed. Each scene was well played out. This rendition brought a sense of satisfaction; there was no feeling the need to see more because something was missing.
There was some doubt about how music was going to fit into this play but it worked wonderfully. The music by Jack Antonoff really tied in that youthful feel. Without the use of music in this play, the scenes would not be the same and it would not portray the playfulness of the young characters or the intensity in the moments of grief. Music was used to further develop deep meaningful moments between Romeo and Juliet. It also was used to intensify all the fighting that kept the audience at the edge of their seats. In all it heightened the experience of being part of the audience.
When focusing on the more youthful parts, Juliet and Romeo actually felt like teens. Thinking back to the delivery of their speech, that’s what helped show their age. The play was able to prove that, despite the time this play was made, the characters were still young. In 1595 kids the age of Romeo and Juliet were perceived completely differently compared to now. Sam Gold was able to incorporate today’s more modern speech while still keeping the original words of the script by changing the intonation and that created a more vibrant dialogue between characters leading to a more youthful and relatable play. The audience could tell Juliet was a tween excited about a boy. This is where the relatability of the play comes in when referring to Gen-Z. Those who watched the play could put themselves in Juliet’s position when it comes to being all giddy about a boy, or put themselves in Romeo’s position when being so nervous about speaking to a girl and overthinking.
Juliet’s excitement really set her apart from any other Juliet and it related to the younger generation. On the other hand, Romeo overthinking his actions and what he’s going to say to Juliet was a perfect representation of how people my age act when it comes to speaking to a crush. It all just felt right and close to home as a teenager.
It is also interesting how the actors break the fourth wall and interact with the audience. Watching this play didn’t feel like ‘just watching a play,’ it felt like an immersive experience because of how up and close the actors are with the audience. It’s almost like the audience is on stage as well. At one point Romeo asked for the chair of one of the audience members so he could climb up to Juliet in her floating bed. They also incorporate audience members by asking rhetorical questions or referring to audience members during dialogue and it worked so well.
The scenery also had a big part in this play when it comes to audience interaction. The stage was in the middle of the room so the whole audience was surrounding it . They run up and down the aisle and the stage is set with a shopping cart full with stuffed animals that the characters throw around and play with. For a portion of the second half of the play the stage flips open and reveals a beautiful ‘field’ of flowers. In general the cast used the whole theater as their stage and it was always exciting to see where they were going to be next, whether it was up in the lights or on the platforms above the exits. It felt like the audience was part of the play and experiencing the emotions that the characters were going through.
While there were many good aspects to this play, at times it was difficult to differentiate one character from another being that several actors played one or more characters, such as Tommy Dorfman being Tybalt and the Nurse, and especially Solá Fádìran playing both of Juliet’s parents. Juliet’s parents were, of course, very different but it was difficult at times to tell whether Juliet’s mother or father was speaking. It was easier to differentiate towards the end because Juliet’s father carried around a Borg. The Borg was later used to swallow the poison during Romeo’s tragic death.
This adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet” was exceptional. Leaving the theater it definitely felt like a cultural experience. As a Gen-Z teenager this play is extremely appealing. Sam Gold did a great job catering to the younger generation using tone and modern influences. The actors did a great job at portraying young characters and bringing comedic relief to a tragedy such as “Romeo and Juliet”, but also embracing the deeper dynamic of this tragedy. Sam Gold was able to prove that a story created decades ago is still relevant to modern day people, especially the younger generation, and a story as such can be modernized while keeping its traditional values.
