O.C. THEATER : Bard Timing: Play’s the Thing : Chapman’s Star-Crossed Lovers in ‘Romeo’ Shine Through All Ages

Unfolding before a predominantly young audience Wednesday at Chapman University, Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” reaffirmed its dramatic strength even for viewers raised on television.

Much of that strength, of course, has to do with the play’s timelessness. As one watches this youthful cast in the bloody confrontation scene--in which Tybalt thoughtlessly kills Mercutio, and Romeo in blind rage kills Tybalt--the swords could be automatic handguns. Along with the final tomb scene and its tragic, senseless denouement, these incidents could be paragraphs in tomorrow morning’s newspaper.

Director Thomas F. Bradac certainly was aware of all that when he chose to accentuate the contemporary feel of the boys’ badgering, their pseudo-macho taunts, and in his casting of the play’s star-crossed lovers with their teen-tinged ga-ga romanticism.

As Romeo, J. Scott Bramble is on the button--a bit brash, quick to flash an infectious smile, easily ricocheting in a second from despair to joy, from hope to grief. Whether Bramble is leaping in his enthusiasm or gazing mesmerized at Juliet’s flowing hair, it is an ingratiating, sensitive and colorful performance.

Anne Marie Nest’s Juliet is even more effective, maintaining a slow, constant growth in maturity from a little girl’s giddiness and desire to please, to the wrenching force of her final scenes. In their scenes alone, Bramble and Nest come close to creating moments of magic.

The supporting cast is mostly quite persuasive. Steve Pierson’s Tybalt is hard-edged and walled in with anger, and Kyle Russo’s Mercutio has a large dollop of humor, but it’s his common sense that tries to control his own volatile nature. Randy Anderson’s Benvolio is properly hale-fellow-well-met, and ineffectual when the fireworks start; Andy Rose’s Paris is just the priggish cluck he’s supposed to be.

Young actors, playing the older Montagues and Capulets and others, carry it off well without resorting to tricks, but by assuming an unpretentious authority that is very effective. In particular, Angelique Adams and Christopher Zinovitch both are strong as the more prominent Capulets; Braddoc De Caires combines the right amounts of piety and bumble for Friar Lawrence, and Elizabeth Maher is jaded and bawdy as Juliet’s Nurse. Only Robert Harrison’s Prince Escalus is out of sync, looking as perfect as one could for the role but seeming uncomfortable, and unsure in his line readings.

Bradac (who, when he isn’t directing college productions, directs Shakespeare Orange County, the county’s only professional classical troupe) has cut the script to playable length, saving most of the dramatic meat (though Mercutio does lose a bit of his sinew). Bradac’s staging, in any case, is imaginative and theatrical.

* “Romeo and Juliet,” Waltmar Theatre, Chapman College, Glassell Street and Palm Avenue, Orange. Friday-Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 4 p.m. Ends Sunday. $5-$7. (714) 997-6812. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes. J. Scott Bramble: Romeo

Anne Marie Nest: Juliet

Kyle Russo: Mercutio

Steve Pierson: Tybalt

Randy Anderson: Benvolio

Christopher Zinovitch: Capulet

Angelique Adams: Lady Capulet

Elizabeth Maher: Nurse

Andy Rose: Paris

Braddoc De Caires: Friar Lawrence

Robert Harrison: Escalus

A Chapman University Department of Theatre and Dance production of the tragedy by William Shakespeare, directed by Thomas F. Bradac. Associate director: Kamella Tate. Scenic and sound design: Craig Brown. Lighting design: Ron Coffman. Costume design: Laura Deremer Bonsall. Fight choreography: Christopher Duval.