Faction of Fools’ Matthew R. Wilson on Romeo & Juliet: A Commedia dell’Arte Love Story

This January, Faction of Fools opens A Commedia Romeo & Juliet, a new adaptation utilizing Shakespeare’s text as performed in the style of Commedia dell’Arte.  The entire play is performed by only 5 actors in a 70 minute cutting.  There will be masks; there will be quick-changes; there will be acrobatics.  Audiences will also be treated to the heart-wrenching poetry that rings in one’s ears whenever one thinks of R&J.

Since conceiving of this project a decade ago, I’ve been asked many times, “What does Shakespeare have to do with Commedia?” and, more recently, “Why does DC need yet another production of Romeo & Juliet?”  Well, let me advance the notion that DC has never seen an R&J like this and that, surprisingly, our “innovations” actually have strong roots in the historical world of Shakespeare.  Not convinced?  Keep reading…

Without Commedia dell’Arte, there would be no Shakespeare.

The claim may sound extreme, but it is an argument that Prof. Christopher Cairns has famously made and that Renaissance theatre scholars have debated for over a century. (1) There is no doubt that Shakespeare was heavily influenced by Italian players who first arrived in London around the time he was born.  Literally hundreds of connections have been made between Shakespeare’s plays and the repertoires of Commedia companies. (2) It has even been persuasively argued that Will Kemp, Shakespeare’s first star clown, interacted with and traded professional secrets with Italian comici on tour. (3) It has even been persuasively argued that Will Kemp, Shakespeare’s first star clown, interacted with and traded professional secrets with Italian comici on tour.

I’ll modify Cairns’s bold statement and concede that, without the influence of Commedia dell’Arte, Shakespeare would probably still have become the greatest poet of the English language.  But his plays would not be the plays we know now.

Left to Right: Gwen Grastorf, Paul Reisman, and Drew Kopas. Photo by Clinton Brandhagen.

It is no accident that Shakespeare’s R&J is set in Italy—in fair Verona where family rivalries bring a tragic end to ideal love.  Tales of thwarted love were the mainstay of Commedia dell’Arte players whose touring shows traversed Europe beginning in the mid-sixteenth century.  Shakespeare knew their style, their characters, and their conventions.  And, as all good artists do, he borrowed liberally from their material in crafting his own work.  Hence, Lords Capulet and Montague are like il Dottore and Pantalone, the patriarchs of two houses whose disputes wreak havoc all over town.  Their children are young Lovers (Innamorati in Commedia terms), and their bumbling Servants borrow from the slapstick routines of Commedia’s Zanni.  Meanwhile a host of Capitano-style braggarts (Tybalt, Mercutio, and Paris—boasters in three different veins) further complicate the plot with their bravado.

But Shakespeare is not only influenced by the character types.  He is also toying with traditional Commedia stories.

Comedy ends with a wedding.  A traditional Commedia play begins in chaos but progresses to an orderly happy ending.  Shakespeare knew this formula, and almost all of his comedies abide by it.  Ultimately, love prevails, and marriage rites announce the play’s end!  In R&J, however, the Bard has other plans.  He has his young lovers get married too soon, before the curtain is ready to fall, and their story continues past a promised happily-ever-after.  In R&J, comedy ends with a wedding.  Then tragedy begins.  No sooner are vows sealed than bodies fall, and starry lovers find their destinies crossed.

Shakespeare’s audience would have recognized that this play is a comedy set on edge.  The text is riddled with jokes and humorous excess; the characters are fantastical.  Though we are apt think of this play as “romantic” or “tragic,” Shakespeare wanted his audiences to laugh.  Then in the midst of laughter, the dagger falls.  Tragedy shows up when we least expect it, and the mournful tear is all the harsher because it has been matched with joy.

Our project is to emphasize the Commedia that first inspired Shakespeare to write his play.  To be clear: R&J is not a work of Commedia dell’Arte, but it exists in part by borrowing from the Italian Comedy and in part by commenting upon it as a genre.  Our Commedia adaptation then seeks to excavate Shakespeare’s text to reemphasize the elements of Commedia dell’Arte that form the dramaturgical strata under his topsoil.

By bringing out the humor that pervades the original text, we believe that we are complimenting tragedy, not competing with it.  Shakespeare was smart enough to know that loss is all the sadder when it comes with laughter.

Our journey toward loss and laughter began with falling down.  The cast, long before sitting a table for text work, began to train in ensemble acrobatics and balance techniques.  As Drew Kopas (who plays Romeo, among others) noted, “You learn to trust someone who lets you stand, jump and roll over them.”  From there our ensemble began to think not only about individual characters but also about the shape of the whole show, which each performer had a hand in crafting.  “The five-person aspect of it gives us each the opportunity to examine the show on both macro and micro levels,” says Eva Wilhelm (who plays Lady Capulet, Tybalt, and Friar Lawrence, among others), adding, “The nature of the mask work and the condensed cast is forcing us to work incredibly specifically.”

The acting ensemble is rounded out by a talented cadre of designers, including Costume Designer Lynly Saunders who was charged with outfitting a town on the backs of five people.  Not only does her Juliet have to be able to flip, but she also has to quick-change into the Prince!  Scenic Designer Daniel Flint creates a versatile trunk that becomes any setting in town, and Thomas Sowers (Sound) and Jesse Terrill (Music) round out the cast of thousands with evocative soundscapes.

Left to Right: Paul Reisman, Gwen Grastorf, and Drew Kopas. Photo by Clinton Brandhagen.

As producer Sarah Wilson notes, “It’s not like [Romeo and Juliet] is an underperformed play,” but DC audiences can expect to see our unique stamp on this one.  Ultimately, the project is about stripping the story down to its roots and allowing the work to be done by a handful of physical actors and a bounty of beautiful poetry.

Says Toby Mulford (who plays the Nurse, Benvolio, and Paris, among others), “It’s five actors, a trunk, and the text.  Which is enough.”

Faction of Fools Theatre Company’s production of A Commedia Romeo & Juliet opens Thursday, January 12, at the Mead Theatre Lab at Flashpoint (916 G St NW, WDC).  Performances are at 8pm Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and at 3pm on Sundays.  Running time is approximately 70 minutes.  Performances will be ASL interpreted on Fri, Jan 27, and Sun, Jan 29. Tickets are $25 ($10 child, $15 student) and are available at 1-800-838-3006 or purchase them online.

Text by William Shakespeare.  Conceived and Directed by Matthew R. Wilson.  Created and Performed by Gwen Grastorf, Drew Kopas, Toby Mulford, Paul Reisman*, and Eva Wilhelm.  Designed by Daniel Flint (set), Lynly Saunders (costumes), Thomas Sowers (sound), Jesse Terrill (music), and Sarah Tundermann (lighting).  Stage management by Miriam Yoder and Sarah Conte.  For more information, visit The Faction of Fools website.

Matthew R. Wilson, Founding Artistic Director of Faction of Fools.

Matthew R. Wilson is Artistic Director of Faction of Fools Theatre Company. He holds an MFA from the Academy for Classical Acting and is pursuing a PhD in Theatre & Performance Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park.
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(1) See Christopher Cairns, ed., The Commedia dell’Arte from the Renaissance to Dario Fo, Italian Origins of European Theatre, Vol 6 (Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press, 1989).