Shakespeare’s Tragedy Turned Triumph: The Eric Hamber Theatre Company Performs Romeo And Juliet

Photo Credit: Tetsuro Shigematsu

In fair Verona where we lay our scene — or rather, in the brand new auditorium — Shakespeare’s classic Romeo and Juliet made its Eric Hamber debut. From May 27 to May 30, student actors and crew members collaborated to put on the play. Following the forbidden love between the children of two feuding families, the story explores themes of love, conflict, and fate.

Mr. A. Beharry (Fine Arts), the play’s director and producer, explained that his choice of Romeo and Juliet was inspired by the striking red accents of the new theatre, which provoked “images of blood, [...] death and tragedy, [...] young love, and the heart.”

Staying true to the original play, the actors spoke Elizabethan English with a distinguished tone and polished rhythm. According to Mr. Beharry, Shakespeare’s Elizabethan English “is always a challenge because [...] it sounds like it's in a different language, [...] a different code.” To ensure that the audience understands the play, actors must “crack the code” of Shakespeare and use actions and movements to convey emotional expressions in the dialogue.

When Mr. Beharry first began to train actors for Romeo and Juliet, he immediately dove into the most iconic and demanding moments of the play. He found that “[jumping] into the middle and [tackling] the hardest piece first” gave the actors time to gain confidence on stage. 

Alex Ma (10) and Kendra On (11), who played Romeo and Juliet respectively, led the cast. 

In the audience on opening night were friends and family of the cast, including student Nia Singh (11) who enjoyed watching her friend, On, in the show. “It was nice to see her in her element. She’s really passionate about [drama] and you can see it when she performs,” Singh said. 

On shared that she “really enjoyed playing the character [Juliet] and [she] learned a lot throughout the whole thing.”

When asked about what it was like to play Romeo, Ma said, “It took a bit of getting used to because when you imagine Romeo, he’s a very lofty, kind of dreamy character.” However, with Mr. Beharry’s help, Ma was able to make Romeo a more grounded character. 

Romeo and Juliet wasn’t all romantic, though, with plenty of well-choreographed action taking place on stage. During fight scenes, the clanging of metal swords and the shouts of the actors aimed to make the scenes as dramatic and realistic as possible. However, Ma revealed that the dangerous spectacles were, in fact, just well-rehearsed dances. Ma shared that the fight scenes followed the “principle of cue, action, reaction.”

The attacker, known as the operator, gives a cue, such as drawing their sword above their head. Their partner reacts by ducking, and then the operator swings their sword, after their partner is out of harm’s way.

Caitlyn Yu (10), a cast member in the first fight scene of the show, added that the cast “got called in to learn how to fight without hurting each other. Our timing need[ed] to be perfect to not bump into each other.” Their efforts paid off, with audience members left breathless at the action. Ms. J. Massoud (Mathematics), who came to support her students, said that she especially “liked the sword fighting” and thought that Taizo Shigematsu (12), who played Tybalt, was “really great.”

There was an intense lead-up to opening night, with some after-school rehearsals extending until 10:00 PM. Sizakele Mkasi (11), who played the narrator, said that preparing was “really busy because we had to stay late.”

“It was obviously very time-consuming,” Ma said. “I put in over 150 hours into the show, easily.”

Mr. Beharry added that, despite rehearsals in the early stages of the play being quicker compared to previous years, he unfortunately had to miss a week of rehearsals due to illness. Despite these challenges, Mkasi thought that “everyone worked really hard” and that they “pulled off a really good show.”

As the show improved with each rehearsal, so did the script. Mr. Beharry had originally planned on working with simplified versions of the play, but upon reviewing them, he “couldn't see our school producing those versions.” Therefore, he decided to use an original script from Romeo and Juliet and “ended up having to make [his] own cuts,” editing it down during rehearsal sessions. He appreciated the student actors' ability to adapt to the changes.

Alongside the dedication of the cast and crew in rehearsals, there was a very apparent thoughtfulness put into each detail of the production. The costumes paid homage to the elegance of the Renaissance period. Actors wore long gowns with puffed sleeves, and structured jerkins that contributed to setting the scene of Shakespearean Italy. 

When asked about the inspiration for the costumes, Yu said that “the Capulets wore all red and the Montagues wore all blue” to emphasize the divide between the two families. The theatre company borrowed costumes from Kitsilano Secondary’s drama department. “Our goal was to make it not modern clothing,” Yu said.

Sets were also a considerable task—Juliet’s balcony had an impressive arch and railing from which Juliet could call out to Romeo, and there were pillars and shrubs which brought a sense of realism to the stage. Backstage runner Violet Juby (10) said that she and the other crew members were responsible for bringing the big sets on and off the stage when the curtains were closed or if there was a blackout.

Juby explained that Max Moore (10) and Finlay Matiece (11), the running crew heads, planned out the entire show’s set designs. Most of “[the crew had] it memorized, but we also have these sheets backstage with the placements to help us out," Juby said. “It’s kind of nerve-racking because you don’t know whether one of the lights is going to turn on; you have to be fast and make sure you don’t get caught on stage.”

This year, Hamber’s new theatre allowed for state-of-the-art technical supplies that helped elevate the story. Chloe Chapman (11), who watched Romeo and Juliet, noted the superior lighting of the new theatre. With washes of blue and purple cast upon the Montagues and warm tones flashed on the Capulets, the lights engaged the audience in each scene.

Sound effects were also improved in this production with the addition of microphones for the actors. On enjoyed how the microphones “really amplified [her] voice,” although at times she thought “they were really hard to use […] because there was a lot that could go wrong.”

Ma agreed, saying that using the mics was “definitely a new experience for a lot of us.” He shared that during the dress rehearsals, “there was a bit of a problem with people talking backstage and it just caused a lot of issues.” However, he was glad that the issues were resolved before the show.