Romeo and Juliet

With Romeo and Juliet Nature Theater of Oklahoma has developed a new manuscript based on 50 phone recordings, consisting of people's memories of the narrative.

Romeo is assigned actions and emotions Shakespeare could never have come up with, and new scenes have been added, among them the mystical sequence in which Juliet is bathed by her servant while Romeo serenades her. As the company says in its own description: "Where memory fails, creativity seems to invent to fill the gap, and we are left with a highly original series of Romeos all pervaded by feeling and rife with complex thoughts about the nature of love and sacrifice in the modern world." "Romeo and Juliet" opens for a pretty interesting and not least humorous angle into our perceptions about love and classic theatre.

Nature Theater of Oklahoma has its name from the fantastic theatre in Kafka's novel America, in which hundred actors dressed like angels play the trumpets.

Nature Theater of Oklahoma is based in New York and the actors specialise on presence and making things difficult for themselves. The trademark is wearing ear-pieces, through which the text is modified by the technicians of the company, to sharpen the concentration and awareness. The company has been awarded the renowned Obie Award for its performances and in 2008 Romeo and Juliet was awarded the prestigious Montblanc Young Directors Award at the Salzburg Festival, in competition with Transiteatret’s Die Massnahme.

Source:

BIT Teatergarasjen, autumn program 2009. 07.08.2010: http://www.bit-teatergarasjen.no -archive

Black Box Teater, www.blackbox.no, 16.10.2018, http://www.blackbox.no/tittel/romeo-and-juliet/