Still Star-Crossed – In Fair Verona, We Lay Our Scene

By: Stacy Miller

Nothing is sweeter and more beautiful than young love.  But when the lovers come from two families that hate each other, it becomes a deadly poison to the romance.  In the case of Romeo and Juliet, a deadly poison wasn’t just a figure of speech. It was literal and it cost the young couple their lives. But before we get into the tragedy, let’s begin our story with a joyous event: The wedding of Romeo Montague (Lucien Laviscount) and Juliet Capulet (Clara Rugaard). In attendance are Juliet’s cousin Rosaline (Lashana Lynch) and Benvolio Montague (Wade Briggs), Romeo’s cousin. It’s obvious from their expression that they are less than happy with the union between their families yet what can they do but watch and remain silent.

Verona welcomes back Prince Escalus (Sterling Sulieman), who’s returned because his father, the king, is dying. Prince Escalus sits by his dying father’s bedside with his sister Princess Isabella (Medalion Rahimi). The king is pleased to be able to see his son before he takes his last breath as there is a lot he wants to tell him, like how much he loves him and how proud he is of him. Not quite, you see although the king may love his son, he loves Verona almost as much (If not more?) and makes Prince Escalus promise him that no matter what happens, he will put the needs of Verona and the kingdom ahead of his (Prince Escalus) own. The king tells his son that there is a law in Verona that if any man is found guilty of murder, that man will be put to death quickly (I guess due process and being found guilty by a group of your peers is out of the question in Verona). The king adds that the Capulets and/or the Montagues may try to make a play for the throne and if that happens then Escalus must stop them and save Verona. The turbulent relationship between the Capulets and the Montagues have made Verona a strained place to be. After uttering these words, the king dies.

Romeo, Benvolio and their friend Mercutio (Gregg Chillin) come to the Montague estate. Lord Damiano Montague (Grant Bowler) is miffed that Benvolio has ended his engagement to a girl that comes from a good and powerful family. Benvolio doesn’t want his marriage to be about forming alliances, he wants to marry for love – something (of course) ridiculous to Lord Montague. Marriage is a business arrangement for the benefit of a kingdom. Their talk is interrupted by the information that Prince Escalus is Verona’s new ruler. Lord Montague views this as their chance to take charge as Escalus doesn’t have experience to rule a kingdom.

Meanwhile, Rosaline and her sister Livia (Ebonee Noel) talk about the upcoming grand ball to celebrate Prince Escalus taking over the throne.  They hope (Livia in particular) that Lord Silvestro (Anthony Head) and Lady Guiliana Capulet (Zuleikha Robinson) will allow them to attend. Let’s get a little information on these girls and how they fit into the Capulet family: Rosaline and Livia are Lord Silvestro’s brother’s daughters. Upon their parents’ deaths, the girls became Uncle Silvestro’s wards.  However, Lady Guiliana treats them no better than servants. Lord Capulet doesn’t question his wife as it’s a lady’s responsibility to run the home, but Lord Capulet does think it would work to the family’s advantage if Livia and Rosaline attend the ball and make re-acquaintance with Prince Escalus, who shares a past with Rosaline. We learn that these sisters are very different in personality: Livia wants to marry a rich man so she and Rosaline will never have to answer to anyone. But Rosaline doesn’t care if she ever marries as she refuses to answer to anyone (especially a man) anyway. Rosaline is not as idealistic as her sister; she seems more outspoken and sassy. Lady Capulet will let the sisters attend the ball, but Juliet says she’s not feeling well and prefers to stay home in bed. What Lady Capulet doesn’t know is stay home in bed means go to bed with husband Romeo so they can consummate their marriage.

On the way to walk into the ball, Princess Isabella tells her brother Prince Escalus about everything that has been going on in Verona since he’s been gone. The feud between the Capulets and the Montagues has escalated. Princess Isabella hopes that their father’s law will stop any violence, that is, if Prince Escalus will enforce it. Speaking of violence, a fight brews between Romeo, Benvolio, Mercutio and a man named Tybalt with Tybalt stabbing Mercutio.  Then, Romeo kills Tybalt.  With this dying breath, Mercutio curses Romeo by saying “A plague on both your houses.”

Juliet’s father wants her to marry Count Paris (Torrance Combs) as he obviously doesn’t know that his daughter is already married to Romeo. Then, she learns about Romeo murdering Tybalt.

Prince Escalus is put in a tough position: If he doesn’t order the execution of Romeo Montague, it will make him appear to be a weak king.  But Escalus would prefer not to send the son of Lord Montague to his death and alienate the Montague family. His sister Princess Isabella thinks he has no choice if he wants to be respected by their people as a strong ruler.

Friar Lawrence (Dan Hildebrand) hands Juliet some poison and tells her that it will put her into a deep sleep that will make her appear dead. Rosaline is with Juliet when she drinks the poison.  Rosaline screams for help when Juliet fails to awaken. When Romeo returns and learns that his wife is dead, he goes to the family tomb of the Capulets to mourn his wife but finds Count Paris has already beat him to it.  Count Paris tells Romeo that Juliet was promised to him so he is the only one with the right to mourn her passing (Because like no one knows that Romeo and Juliet were married except Friar Lawrence, Benvolio and Rosaline). And like grieving (and sexist) men fighting over the same women, Romeo and Count Paris get into an altercation where Romeo ends up stabbing Count Paris! That’s two for two Romeo.  Saddend over the loss of his wife, Romeo too takes the poison. And with a kiss, he dies.  But Juliet wasn’t dead (that doesn’t last long though). When she finds her beloved Romeo dead, she drinks the rest of the poison. And this time, she’s truly dead. Rosaline finds the bodies of Romeo, Juliet and Count Paris. But Count Paris is the only one who is not dead.

Lady Capulet takes out her grief on Rosaline and we learn a little more of their history. It seems Lady Capulet was in love with Rosaline’s father but decided to marry Silvestro (who was the older brother) for the title.

Lord Montague visits Friar Lawrence. We learn that Lord Montague was planning for his son to marry Juliet and for the union to produce an heir. Of course, that dream is now gone and it is Friar Lawrence’s fault. The Capulet and Montague families have a joint funeral for Romeo and Juliet. Prince Escalus tells the crowd that Lord Montague had a statue commissioned of Juliet as a gift. Unfortunately, when the covering is removed the statue has the word “Harlot” written in red paint. The people are furious and a violent riot breaks out.

For their safety Rosaline wants to leave Verona with Livia, but Livia refuses to run away. She wants to marry a rich man.  So, if Rosaline wants to run, she will not be going with her. When Rosaline leaves, her carriage is accosted as the fighting in the street continues.  Fortunately, before she is hurt, Benvolio comes to her rescue.  However, Rosaline is less than grateful as she blames him for everything, including the death of Tybalt as she feels he let the situation escalate.  It’s obvious that with the strained relationship between these two, it can only mean one thing that they will end up as a couple. When she returns to the palace, she finds Benvolio (Is he stalking her?) there with her uncle and Lord Montague.  The lords have come up with a solution they feel will help Verona: Benvolio and Rosaline will marry! Say what and huh? Because as it has already been stated, Rosaline doesn’t want to marry anyone and if she does decide to marry, she wants to be the one to decide on the groom. And Benvolio doesn’t have a problem with marrying, but he didn’t think it be to Rosaline. We learn that Rosaline and Prince Escalus were once involved, but the romance ended when her father was killed and Escalus decided to leave Verona.

Livia finds Lady Capulet taking care of a dying Count Paris and offers to help as she has experience with taking care of the sick (she helped to take care of her mother when she was dying). Lady Capulet agrees to let her help, but tells Livia that no one must know. Why is Lady Capulet hiding Count Paris and his condition? Will Count Paris be the rich man that Livia hopes to someday marry?