“This could be Verona. Or it could be Edinburgh, Dublin, New York or Liverpool,” read the stage instructions for playwright Sharman McDonald’s After Juliet. The young cast of the play will tell you it could even be Sri Lanka. The plot of this intense, edgy play about living in the aftermath of war and tragedy, borrows from one of the most iconic love stories of all time – Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Built around the minor characters in the original plot, the play makes protagonists of otherwise forgotten personages like Rosaline, Benvolio and Alice – a few of whom are only recognized with a line or two in the original. With wit and charm, and minus much of the melodrama, it gives us a ‘sequel’ with depth and realism.
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Tracy Holsinger will be directing After Juliet, the latest in a long line of productions by The Wendy Whatmore Academy of Speech and Drama. Her cast are all under 24, which for most part reflects the ages of the characters in the play. The piece offers perspective on the attitudes of the Capulet women in general and Rosaline in particular - a particularly intriguing strand of the plot follows Rosaline’s bid against crowd favourite Petruchio for the title Prince of Cats.
“This play has really got me thinking differently about peace and war. Everyone is waiting for a fight to break out, so does peace really exist then?” asks Tehani Welgama (18). “Ours is a generation that has been fed on vengeance and will only grow hungrier for it, in its absence. As Rosaline says she ‘sucked it in with mother’s milk’,” adds Carlene Defry (22), who plays the nurse.
If nothing else, Rosaline and her cousin Alice agree on this one thing. “Alice is a lot like Rosaline in some ways…” says Nihara Perera (16), going on to explain that the formers single-minded pursuit of Petruchio, Tybalt’s brother, matches Rosaline’s own determination to fight the Montagues. Both are strong characters, gleefully flouting the conventional notions of docile, submissive women. It is in fact Petruchio who is committed to upholding the peace. “Even though he lost his own brother to this “ancient feud,” he doesn’t seek vengeance...he values life over gallantry,” explains Rajiv Ponweera (24) who plays Petruchio in the production.
Benvolio is of a similar mind. Ruvin de Silva (22) plays Benvolio – the role marks his sixth production with Tracy. “Benvolio is for peace, but more than peace, he’s for Rosaline,” says Ruvin. Gentle in word and deed, Benvolio does not want to fight anyone, least of all Rosaline, anymore. In the middle of this is Valentine – twin brother of Mercutio – determined to avenge his brother’s death. Ruvin gives voice to the heaviness and spiralling tension in the play. “There’s peace. And it’s holding at the moment…but for how long? What’s next? Who’s next?”
“Your spirit haunts me, Juliet. I see more of you dead than I did when you were alive,” declares Rosaline at the beginning of one of the play’s most wonderful monologues. It is clear from lines like that and from the title itself that at least one of the original play’s main protagonists enjoys an afterlife of sorts in Sharman McDonald’s universe.
Among those who survived the curtain call, a few – namely the apothecary, the friar, the nurse and Romeo’s servant Peter – are on trial for their aiding Romeo and Juliet, and their fate is uncertain.
In the end the production abounds with echoes from both literature and the real world. “Does the play offer an end of sorts, some kind of closure?” asks Feroze Ahamed (21), who plays Valentine.
The answer might be no, but since that’s a prerequisite for a story to carry on, we’re not complaining.
After Juliet will be staged at the Lionel Wendt from the 21 – 23 of August, at 7:30 pm. Tickets priced at 300/-, 500/-. 750/- and 1000/- and are currently on sale at the Wendt. Electronic media sponsors for the play are Yes FM and MTV, while the print media sponsors are The Sunday Times and The Daily Mirror.
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