Ann-Marie MacDonald’s Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) is equal parts a critique and a pastiche of Shakespearian tragedies.
A young English academic, Constance Ledbelly (Alex Wilson) gets thrown into the worlds of Othello and Romeo & Juliet and sets out to right the wrongs of the plays and avert the tragic events that befall their respective female leads. Desdemona (Natalie Lopez) gets saved from Othello’s (Kamil Bhatty) rage and jealousy and Iago’s (Wade Theriault) scheming. Juliet (Meg Sutton) and Romeo (Sheldon Paul) get saved from their premature deaths and instead both fall in love with Constance.
Wilson was astounding as Constance. She carries each scene she’s in with magnetic stage presence and great skill, conveying Constance’s lovable quirkiness and neurotic energy with ease. Scenes of her starstruck by Shakespeare characters were all highlights, and she made each line count.
The play also benefitted from strong performances from Sutton as Juliet and Paul as Romeo. Sutton showed remarkable command over her character’s lust, passion, and 16th-century-style teenage angst. She showed strong chemistry with Wilson particularly during their version of Romeo and Juliet’s famous balcony scene as she hinted towards a bi-curious side of Juliet not seen in the original play.
Paul as Romeo was a highlight of the second half of the play, as he tried to seduce Constance—or Constantine, as he called her. His sexual awakening to the temptations of this young Greek “boy” culminated with him skipping around the stage in a white dress, and bright red lipstick. With a strong sense of comic timing and a commanding presence he took the stage by storm.
The re-enactment of Romeo and Juliet was more compelling than Othello, which felt slower and meandering. However, the new spin on Desdemona by Lopez was interesting to watch. The innocent victim of Shakespeare’s play is replaced by one considerably more bloodthirsty and assertive, and Lopez does a strong job in conveying these traits.
The cast did a good job integrating text from the original plays, and Romeo and Juliet’s saucy Shakespearean-inspired pickup lines were highlights of the second half. The play felt slower without Lopez, Wilson, Sutton, or Paul, as supporting cast members sometimes struggled to keep pace with them.
The play’s strengths come from subverting the Bard’s original stories. It’s not so much a reimagining as it is a combination of a playful homage and serious critique. Were these plays originally comedies changed into tragedies? The play makes us consider exactly how tragic Othello and Romeo and Juliet were, and how avoidable the tragic circumstances could’ve been. Honestly, how difficult would it have been for Romeo and Juliet to think things through before hitting up the apothecary?
The end result is one of Sock ‘n’ Buskin’s strongest productions this year, with capable performances, skillful direction, dance numbers, turtles, unrequited love, and new takes on theatrical classics. The resolution at the end isn’t as neat and tidy as one would expect, but the journey the cast took us on to get there was nevertheless satisfying and will change how you view Shakespearean tragedies.
– Photo is provided.
