Both the leads of La Boite’s Romeo And Juliet say that they almost had an “aversion” to the Bard when they were made to study his work in school.
Darcy Gooda, who plays Juliet, recalls having to read Shakespeare silently as far back as primary school. It wasn’t until later in high school that she “fell in love with it”, when her English teachers encouraged her to “physicalise it and move around the room and shout it at the ceiling”.
La Boite’s Romeo, Jackson Bannister, says he too “wasn’t that into it for a while”. For him, it wasn’t until he studied Hamlet in Grade 12 that he understood Shakespeare’s appeal.
“I think the way they teach it at schools is not that accessible, because Shakespeare is not really meant to be read – it's meant to be heard and performed, and it's quite dry when you just read it. It's really hard, especially at that age.”
Returning to Shakespeare as adults necessitated the young cast – featuring emerging actors from QUT, working alongside senior artists – thinking about how to make the work “accessible” and “engaging”, and above all relevant to modern audiences. “His stories are still relevant [because] they’re about human beings,” Bannister notes.
“[Romeo]'d be an absolute catch on Tinder, wouldn't he?”
That enduring relevance may go partway to understanding why creatives keep coming back to restage Romeo And Juliet, and audiences return to see new interpretations of the classic text. Gooda and Bannister each hit on the idea that it’s a story everybody knows.
“Most people know exactly what happens – they come out at the start and tell you what happens,” Bannister emphasises. “But I think there's a certain challenge and a certain excitement in seeing what you can do that people haven't seen before.
“It really, really genuinely is an amazing story. It really is a story in which so many things are covered, so many emotions are covered, and so many different ideas and concepts are brought to life – of all Shakespeare plays I think it should be restaged again and again and again.”
Gooda spells out further how that basic plot that everybody knows pulls people back into the theatre over and over.
“Ok, it's about a boy and a girl that love each other but their families hate each other, and there's a lot of killing, and everyone knows that. That's a huge impetus to see the play because they know the basic plot line so then they can enjoy it and see how it's different from other productions.
“I think there's something magnetic about it to me, and like exulted in a sense – when you hear Romeo And Juliet it's like, 'Whoa!'”
Darcy Gooda. Photo by Dylan Evans.
Gooda thinks there’s a good reason why she’s so obsessed with Romeo And Juliet – “I think it’s my favourite Shakespeare” – and why it is one of Shakespeare’s “most ubiquitous plays”. But it’s not the obvious answer: “It's obviously relevant and pertinent and poignant, but it's also such good fun. It's so funny.”
She points to the balcony scene – you know the one, “O Romeo, Romeo” – as a particularly hilarious moment, amid all the “hilarious and awkward and fumbly” interactions between the star-crossed lovers.
The actress also sees that scene as showing that Juliet isn’t some “cookie cutout, young, naive girl”, but that she is “so headstrong and capable and resourceful”.
“When Romeo turns up she's like, 'What the fuck are you doing here?' She's not like, 'Oh my God, I love you, you're so hot,' and stuff like that… She's like, 'What are you doing?', 'Who told you how to get here?', blah, blah, blah, 'You can't be here.'”
Put that way, it feels like a very modern reaction to a suitor showing up unannounced at your door. It’s the kind of thing Romeo, who Bannister describes as “brazen”, “naive” and “courageous”, would do.
“I think that's something every actor wants to play, because he gets to do things you probably would never do as a person yourself. He's very, very interesting, brave, kind of someone that I think a lot of people might wanna be. So it'll be fun to be that for a while and have that level of courage, even if it is just in a play, y'know?”
Jackson Bannister. Photo by Dylan Evans.
What would Romeo be like on Tinder? “He'd be an absolute catch on Tinder, wouldn't he?” Bannister laughs. “I think he's smart, I think he's really brave, he'd have some crazy pick-up line… He'd just be super confident, he'd be the first messenger, he would hit you up, he would Super Like people. I think he'd be very successful on Tinder. He's a very romantic, smart boy.”
Both Gooda and Bannister think the play is particularly pertinent in the way it represents young people, especially in 2019, at a time when they are finding their political power, as seen in the wave of school climate strikes all around the world.
“I also really wanna focus on the idea of young people being capable,” Gooda begins. “Because if you look at today, like all these movements are being led by young people and they're trying to change the status quo and the mistakes of adults. And obviously Romeo And Juliet is very much a play where all the young people are wrapped up in the mistakes of the adults. I want to bring that kind of side to it because I think that's immensely relevant right now.”
Bannister agrees that seeing young people on stage playing characters “really standing up for what they believe in” is empowering. “Young people are amazing, what they're doing out there is insane and there's so much power [there] – it's the next generation. I think stories like this really empower that kind of movement within young people.”
