Katie Buenneke, LA Weekly

May 6, 2014

Romeo and Juliet would have been better as a comedy. Sure, it’s probably sacrilege to criticize Shakespeare, especially so soon after his 450th birthday, but it’s true. Just imagine, a comedy making fun of bumbling teenagers, fumbling around as they try to sort out their pubescent emotions, ending with a wedding and maybe a leering wink from the Bard. 

The Independent Shakespeare Company (who also presents the Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival) has staged a production that will make you wish that Romeo and Juliet were a comedy. Director Melissa Chalsma hits the comedic notes with aplomb, keeping the tone in the first act of the stripped-down, 100-minute version light. Once Mercutio (a delightfully funny André Martin) bites the dust (but not his thumb – that scene has been eliminated, along with many others) and the play’s melodrama becomes inevitable, the show becomes much less engaging.  […continued]

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