In “Playing Juliet/Casting Othello,” writer Caleen Sinnette Jennings explores contemporary issues of race and identity with style and grace in the ultra-traditional context of Shakespearean tragedy.
Jennings presents the audience with a sort of meta-theater; both plays are about putting on plays. In “Playing Juliet,” Kila D. Burton gives life to the character Georgia, an African-American actress who feels increasingly uncomfortable playing Juliet, in “Romeo and Juliet,” as opening night draws near. The role, she says, has been typecast as a beautiful, young, white woman. Georgia simultaneously struggles with her negative self image and with societal constructions that label dark-skinned women ugly.
Scott Leonard Fortune engages the audience as Georgia’s disapproving boyfriend Jimmy. He threatens to leave her if she continues the play, fearful she will disgrace herself and disrespect him. Fortune manages to convey charisma and charm even through Jimmy’s anger.
“Othello” is more familiar territory for a dialogue about racial attitudes. “Casting Othello” includes the same cast as “Playing Juliet,” with the actors playing the same roles. The play centers around the search for an actor to play the lead role in Shakespeare’s dark play about deception and murder. The conversation centers around typical interpretations of the Othello character as a primitive exotic.
Believe it or not, Jennings, director Lisa Rose Middletone and the cast manage to inject humor into the serious subject manner. The plays turns farcical as certain characters’ feelings for each other turn from hate to love, as in Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.”
The acting is a bit overdone in parts, and the exaggerated air of tension among the characters at times overshadows the humor and intellect of the plays. Yet overall, the production proves both enjoyable and thought-provoking. In “Playing Juliet/Casting Othello,” Jennings broaches sensitive topics with admirable grace.
The plays were a co-production of the Folger Shakespeare Library and the Source Theater Company, and ran January 9 through February 1 at the Folger Elizabethan Theatre.
