The Tamesis
Ali said the Capulet lady was the matriarch of a conservative family living in a “place where the act of speaking Spanish could be violent and punishable.” In this production, Hispanic Romeo is restricted to speaking his native language at home and is scolded by his cousin Benvolio for daring to do so elsewhere. Juliet learns Spanish from the family servant Pedro (a supporting character in the original novel, Peter), and the language becomes the lovers’ secret code. The two find comfort through their connection.
Ali has a proven track record of using multiple languages in his work. His bilingual audio playback romeo and juliet, The show, released as a podcast during the pandemic, stars Nyong’o and Juan Castano. Now, Ali admits, this approach “says nothing conceptually about the story.” But the director fine-tuned his idea for a production affected by the refugee crisis twelfth night Last year, private uses of Swahili connected selected characters on exotic roads.
Ali knew that the brilliance of Shakespeare lay in the plasticity of his works. “Why do we keep coming back to these characters whose fate we know?” Ali asked. He remembers seeing Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 film adaptation romeo and juliet A baby-faced Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes stare at each other through a fish tank in a Nairobi cinema. “When you have such strong visuals, you don’t need words,” he said. Ali calls west side story, The 1957 musical, set against the backdrop of a duel between New York gangs, is the work’s “most brilliant adaptation and translation” and can be identified without copying every specific element. He shares Aikens’ passion for the unforgettable score from Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 film Faithful.
“Even when she was young, she wasn’t satisfied,” Aikens said. There is tender sympathy in the actor’s eyes. “Part of her is sad because she can’t live or decide what she wants, and then she meets Romeo, and in the end, it seems like she can survive through this love.” The two are in a dangerous world, and Aikens, while proud of her accomplishments, sees her casting as almost “a new kind of stunt — we’re so used to seeing celebrities and people with successful careers playing these roles.” She said it had to work hard for her to believe that she wasn’t tricking someone into giving her the role.
“Yeah, yeah,” Hernandez said, gently interrupting the thought. “I think the great thing, and what helps me at least, is that I’m not alone. We’re in this together.”
In this story: hair, Edward Lampley; makeup, Mark Carrasquillo; tailor Tae Yoshida of Carol Ai Studio Tailors.
Produced by Boom Productions Inc.
