'Violent delights do have violent ends' as OKC theater makes 'Romeo & Juliet' a spectacle

With its 39th season, Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park is crafting what Executive Producer Tyler Woods calls "a love letter to Shakespeare."

And what love letter to The Bard would be complete without those immortal words, "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?"

The venerable Oklahoma City theater company is welcoming autumn by revisiting one of William Shakespeare's most enduring works: the tragedy of "Romeo & Juliet." Performances are Sept. 14-24 outdoors in The Shakespeare Gardens in the Paseo Arts District.

"'Romeo & Juliet' is the natural fit in this season by and about Shakespeare. We are sure all lovers of The Bard — and those new to his work — will be inspired and transported by this production," Woods said in an email.

OKC theater revisits 'Romeo & Juliet' for the first time since the pandemic

Oklahoma Shakespeare is revisiting "fair Verona" and The Bard's iconic tale of feuding families and star-crossed lovers for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Arguably the most famous love story in the world, "Romeo & Juliet" was the last show Oklahoma Shakespeare performed before the spring 2020 coronavirus outbreak forced the professional theater to shut down and cancel the rest of its season.

The upcoming outdoor production will differ markedly from the February 2020 staging inside the company's Paseo black-box theater, said Kathryn McGill, Oklahoma Shakespeare's executive and artistic director and co-founder. During the COVID closure, the nonprofit arts organization built its Shakespeare Gardens venue, so this is the first time "Romeo & Juliet" will be presented on the company's new outdoor stage.

"Indoors, you really get the intimacy, and outdoors, you get the spectacle. I think you can have more fun with the fights outdoors. There's more space," McGill said.  

'Romeo & Juliet' features elaborate sword fights and costumes

"Romeo & Juliet" follows the company's August Oklahoma premiere production of "Shakespeare in Love," a fact-meets-fiction romantic comedy that chronicles the creation of The Bard's legendary tragedy.

Directed by University of Oklahoma associate professor Alissa Branch, the new production borrows from the ambitious scope of "Shakespeare in Love," with elaborate sword fights choreographed by Woods, Italian Renaissance-style costumes by Lloyd Cracknell and original live music composed and performed by Nate Borofsky, who will appear in the show as The Travelling Player.

"It is a big show ... and 'these violent delights' do have violent ends," said Bell Reeves, who is taking on the role of Juliet after playing Hero in Oklahoma Shakespeare's June production of "Much Ado About Nothing."

"We're doing it in the Italian Renaissance period, but still trying to find those modern moments that we can all relate to, really honing in and applying that to the characters' journey. And we're staging it in a couple of unexpected ways: We've got some fun, unscripted moments."

Ahead of opening night, Reeves and Jose Antonio Otero, who is making his Oklahoma Shakespeare debut in the role of Romeo, talked with The Oklahoman about playing the legendary couple:

Q: Jose, how has it been working with Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park?

Otero: Everybody has been very welcoming and warm. I'm working with a lot of actors that have done it for longer than me. So, it's been really nice to talk to them about what techniques they're using, how to tackle Shakespeare and how they're viewing the script. I'm expanding my process along the way.

Q: Have either of you done 'Romeo & Juliet' before?

Reeves: No. It's exciting because it's a big Shakespeare show. Whenever you ask people about Shakespeare, it's one of the ones that comes to the forefront of your mind. So, I'm super excited. I never thought I'd be doing it.

Otero: No. ... It's not usually what I've been cast as, but it's very exciting. 'Romeo & Juliet,' big name.

Q: What are the challenges of playing one of the most famous couples in Western literature?

Reeves: There's just such history and precedent for this show. ... So, that's kind of intimidating, but it's just about trying to make space for your own choices and interpretation.

These themes are so universal: It's why Shakespeare's lasted for like 400 years ... because we can all relate in our own ways to love or lost love or issues with families.

Otero: I think the biggest challenge that I've been trying to wrap my head around has been the stakes of it all. You don't find a lot of death in battling royal families in the modern world.

So, it's just trying to put yourself in their shoes in terms of like, 'OK, he's banished from his family, he's banished from the world, he murders one of her cousins.' Trying to understand the scope of that has been challenging, but it's also stretching me in a good way. ...

You have to find things in your life that ... have evoked the same type of like emotion. We haven't all been banished or whatever. But I think there's a sense of betrayal that Romeo feels from the people and the adults in his life that, I think, affects me. So, that's where I latch on to.

Q: Since the show is so familiar, what do you hope to bring to your performance that's perhaps unexpected?

Reeves: It's about leaning into the parts that you personally resonate with: We found this really cool thing where our Romeo and Juliet, we're kind of giggly or goofier than I think a lot of other iterations have been. So, we've been finding our own personal rhythm within such an established story.

Q: How are you preparing to star in an outdoor show of this scope and scale?

Reeves: It's a lot of space to fill, a lot of space to love and live on. We're super fortunate, I think, to have the outdoor space, because it really speaks to how Shakespeare was traditionally performed. Now we have our Globe (Theatre), basically, and we have our fun groundlings on our lawn seats. It's just about taking time to interact with them and using what you've got. It's a gift, all the space.

Otero: Personally, I really love it. I feel like Shakespeare's plays are way too epic to be contained. ... So, having it outside, seeing the stars and the moon and actually talking to the heavens, it feels right. 

'ROMEO & JULIET'

• When: Sept. 14-24.

• Where: The Shakespeare Gardens, 2920 Paseo.

• Tickets: www.okshakes.org.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC theater greets autumn with outdoor staging of 'Romeo & Juliet'