Crossed stars aligned at Prague Castle

As part of their third consecutive collaboration with the Summer Shakespeare Festival, PaS de Theatre Ostrava came calling at Prague Castle July 30-Aug. 1 with an inspired production of Romeo and Juliet. The production stopped over in Brno Aug. 3-4 before traveling on to Bratislava Aug. 6-7. The organizers of the festival would do well to add the show to their regular repertoire.

As a theater critic, one sees more than one's share of the titular star-crossed lovers, and generally the fare, as it were, is fair to middling at best. Not so with the talented troupe from Ostrava. Director Pavel Šimák's production of Jiří Josek's translation of the Bard's most famous play exhibits all the hallmarks of a first-rate interpretation: palpable chemistry between the leads, exhilarating swordplay and wrenching death scenes.  

Marek Holý appears a touch old to be playing the teenage Romeo, but what he lacks in youth he makes up for in presence. The role so often takes the shape of hormone-fueled hysteria and histrionics, but Holý transitions from one violent emotion to the next with steady conviction, selling his immediate infatuation and his tragic loss of temper as something closer to epiphany than flippancy.

Tereza Dočkalová errs at times in favor of excess, but she ultimately wins the day with her evidently irrepressible enthusiasm. The spritely actress is at her best when events are at their worst, displaying the subtlety and deftness in the final scenes that she lacks when bubbling over with happiness and lust earlier on.

Igor Orozovič is excellent as Tybalt, his appetite for destruction and repressed envy being memorably juxtaposed by the sudden and evident realization of the ultimate consequences of his actions. It bears repeating that the swordplay on display is unusually riveting, and along with Jan Hájek in an admirable turn as Mercutio, Orozovič bounds about like an Elizabethan Zoro throughout. Fencing choreographers Ivan Petrák and Petr Sýkora clearly know their stuff.

Composer Paul Helebrand's jazz-infused, modernist score adds a luscious ambiance to the proceedings and the audience is treated to a chorus possessing some members who can actually sing - a rarity in ensemble companies generally cast more for their looks, resumes and thespianic talents than their musical gifts.

David Bazika's graffiti-covered set is an irrelevance, if not a distraction, but he more than makes up for his shortcomings if he is to be credited with the inventive waterworks employed in the finale. Eliška Zapletalová's costumes are period traditional, proving the wisdom in resisting the temptation to reinvent the wheel when it comes to setting and décor unless a powerful impetus presents itself.

Šimák's cast is committed and well-rehearsed, exhibiting the fluidity and sureness of step and word that can only come from hard work. Holý and Dočkalová's work in the penultimate scene is the best this critic has yet chanced to witness. Curiously, the reception offered them from the audience at the castle was somewhat reserved. While the company received warm, respectful applause, one might have expected roars of bravo and riotous stamping in return for the company's efforts.   

In any case, PaS de Theatre's production serves as an object lesson in the timeless potency of their chosen text. In the right hands, passion, sex and swordsmanship will never go out of fashion.

James Walling can be reached at
jwalling@praguepost.com