Shakespeare’s Early Romcom Comes to the ATA

Before Romeo and Juliet created havoc in Verona, William Shakespeare used it as the point of origin for a play about boys, girls, romance and duplicity. One of the Bard’s earliest works (written between 1590 and 1594 to be imprecise), The Two Gentleman of Verona is given a fresh coat of 21^st-century paint at the American Theatre of Actors. Performed in modern dress but extremely faithful to the text, this re-imagining features a talented cast of dynamic actors who clearly relish every 16^th century word.

Verona pals Proteus (Luke Hodgson) and Valentine (Brandon P. Raines) travel to Milan, where they find themselves in a love triangle with Silvia (Cameron Park-Miller), the daughter of the Duke (Martin Riofrio). However, Proteus is already partnered in Verona with Julia (Natasha Sahs). The assertive Silvia falls for Valentine and plans to elope with him, but Proteus betrays them to her objecting father. The Duke banishes Valentine to the forest, where he runs into another group of exiles and charms his way into becoming their leader. With the help of her women-in-waiting Lucetta (Kate Jergensen), Julia disguises herself as a pageboy and comes to Milan to find Proteus. Our heroes reunite and reconcile, but not before amusing shenanigans ensue.

Zachary Fretag steals the show as Launce, Proteus’ servant. He bounces around the stage in extremely loud pants, talks to his converse Chucks, his cane, and his dog Crab (represented by a stuffed toy in a picnic basket). He doesn’t speak Shakespeare’s lines so much as completely embody them. Brandon P. Raines is effervescent as Valentine, providing a “Niles Crane” energy that serves the source material beautifully. Blaize Adler-Ivanbrook is energetic and goofy as Speed, Valentine’s servant whose pants rival Launce’s in their gaudiness. Natasha Sahs is charming in her springtime dress as Julia, and amusing and convincing in her baseball cap and pants in her disguise as Sebastian the Pageboy.

All the actors use movement to great effect, making deft use of the small stage and its surrounding doors, and performing with physical and verbal gusto. Their chemistry with each other is electric, and their love of the material and the joy of performing it together is evident throughout the five acts of the play.

The play is a wonderful depiction of young people finding their way from betrayal and jealousy to love and friendship, and learning these lessons in the colorful way that Shakespeare was so genius at presenting.

The Two Gentlemen of Verona is directed by John Debenedetto. It runs at the American Theatre of Actors through Dec 22.