Private Romeo

A fascinating experiment in updating the Bard, PRIVATE ROMEO audaciously places Romeo and Juliet inside a modern military academy. While the rest of the school is off on training, eight cadets are left behind with orders to continue their studies and physical regimen. A classroom reading of Romeo and Juliet gradually begins to take over their real lives, and the young men's drama takes place throughout the empty school—where all the world's a stage. The chem lab serves as Friar Lawrence's cell; the basketball court is the scene of Mercutio and Tybalt's fight. The brilliant ensemble of Shakespearean-trained New York actors includes astonishingly tender Seth Numrich and Matt Doyle, both of Broadway's War Horse, as the star-crossed lovers. These talented young men convey the passion of Shakespeare just as credibly as they do the posturing of modern jocks. Director Alan Brown calls the play a “relevant story about sexual identity and desire pitted against society and its institutions; about personal freedom and rights versus authority.” – B.B.