Summary 
Solid outdoor production of the romantic tragedy, with engaging chemistry between an athletic Romeo and a courageous Juliet. Traditionally staged and slowly paced with uneven supporting performances, but some interesting moments and a well-executed conclusion.
Design
Directed by Calvin MacLean. Set by Ron Keller. Costumes by Kathryn Rohe. Lights by Julie Mack. Sound by Roderick Peeples.
Cast
David Kortemeier (Escalus), Ray Kurut (Paris), Lawrence MacDonald (Montague), Rebecca MacLean (Lady Montague), Roderick Peeples (Capulet), Rebecca McGraw (Lady Capulet), Brad Eric Johnson (Romeo), Kathleen Logelin (Juliet), Scott Cummins (Mercutio), Don Smith (Tybalt), Tandy Cronyn (Nurse), Jack McLaughlin-Gray (Friar Laurence).
Analysis
The Illinois Shakespeare Festival's artistic director, Calvin MacLean, presents Romeo and Juliet in traditional fashion within 16th century Verona. The sun-baked set, with a balcony and third-level gallery, features shades of brown, red, and yellow. Astronomical symbols grace the stage, underscoring the play's theme of star-crossed fortune. The brickwork along the Verona streets, cracked and splitting part, suggests the breaking down of old tradition. MacLean mentioned his own young daughter in pre-performance discussion and how the theme in Romeo and Juliet of the failure of parents has particular resonance for him.
The entire cast stands motionless on stage during the solemn Prologue, then erupts into the 1.1 brawl with swords and daggers. Brad Eric Johnson's 1.2 appearance as Romeo provides a contrast to the violence and pandemonium of the feud. To the sound of chirping birds, Romeo strolls onstage, oblivious to the strife. Johnson's Romeo varies between extreme emotions: he falls flat on his back in ecstasy ("O blessed night!") after speaking with Juliet at her balcony in 2.2; his enraged "I am fortune's fool" after 3.1 is a primal scream; within Friar Laurence's chamber in 3.3, he curls into a fetal ball on the ground and sobs; and in 5.3 he is a resolute lover intent on suicide. Johnson brings lithe physicality to love-struck Romeo, climbing a doorframe to touch hands with Juliet in 2.2, using his dagger point for balance by thrusting it to the ground and spinning around it during his 3.1 duel with Tybalt, descending from the balcony by rope in 3.4, and wielding both torch and dagger during his 5.1 confrontation with Paris, then tossing the vanquished suitor over his shoulder before venturing into the crypt.
Supporting performances vary in effectiveness, with the most notable being the Nurse. In 1.3 she becomes enrapt in the conversation between mother and daughter, comically taking Lady Capulet's chair at certain junctures. The Nurse manages the delicate balance between humor and pathos" after Mercutio hoists her off the ground in 2.4 and Balthasar kisses her full on the mouth, her squeals of protest give way to conspiratorial whispers with Romeo as she plays the love broker for the tragic couple.
MacLean captures the magic of romance during the 1.5 Capulet masquerade sequence. After a minuet, Romeo takes Juliet's hand and they gently dance, not taking their eyes from each other's face. When a furious Tybalt confronts Capulet in the balcony above, all action onstage halts, with everyone frozen and staring up at the arguing men, except for the enrapt Romeo and Juliet. Then the men above also freeze, and the music rises and the lights dim except for a spotlight upon Romeo and Juliet and a series of torches burning around them. When they share their first kiss, even the music stops for a moment, then dramatically resumes amid a burst of fireworks, a return of full lighting, and a sudden flurry of movement from the other revelers.
MacLean employs a moveable staircase in a variety of ways, as the orchard wall in 2.2, then as the Capulet staircase Romeo ascends so both he and Juliet stand elevated in spotlights from opposite sides of the stage, and as the 5.3 entranceway to the underground Capulet crypt. The 3.1 tragic turning point begins with bells tolling, and there is a sense of impending doom as Tybalt slaps Romeo's conciliatory hands away, then knocks him down and kicks him in the side and in the face. After Romeo slays Tybalt, bystanders encircle the corpse and weep as the lights fade. When they move away with Tybalt on their shoulders, Juliet is revealed, kneeling and smiling in their midst, unaware of the deaths of Mercutio and her cousin, as the lights rise again for 3.2.
To her credit, Kathleen Logelin's teenaged Juliet seems a mature young lady, especially in contrast to Johnson's volatile Romeo. Her rejection of her father's rage and the Nurse's advice reveals inner strength, and her courage is obvious as the 4.5 marriage bed is fitted with handles to become the funeral bier. Her "passing" matures even Romeo, who strews rose petals from the balcony down upon her as she lies in the crypt, then resolutely dispatches Paris.
The production's finest moments come in the final few scenes. After Romeo poisons himself, he lies beside Juliet, and he reaches for a final embrace - "thus with a kiss, I die" - but poignantly fails. With both the Capulets and the Montagues in scarlet lighting for the reconciliation, the spot-lit Escalus concludes the play with his sad admonition: "all are punished."
MacLean's Romeo and Juliet, steady and straightforward to the point of being somewhat too much by-the-book, features several interesting moments and manages to capture some of the often-difficult essence of this tragedy.
Note: A version of this article was edited and published in Shakespeare Bulletin, Vol.20, No.4, Fall 2002.