Uneven Reworking of ‘Romeo and Juliet’

To paraphrase a line from the play, “Romeo and Juliet” at the Theatricum Botanicum is “not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door.” In fact, Ellen Geer’s direction of Shakespeare’s familiar classic is disappointingly shallow.

Geer strives very hard to give the proceedings a contemporary thrust but the result, though often free-wheeling, lacks emotional credibility. As if mistrustful of the play’s dramatic content, Geer tosses in the slaying of a child early on by the brawling Montagues and Capulets. Geer then splices key scenes, overlapping dialogue in a cinematic effect that is unfortunately gimmicky.

As portrayed here, Romeo (Justin Doran) and Juliet (Inara George) are giggling, hormonal teens who could as easily be indigenous to the Valley mall scene as to Verona. Although her performance contains certain gestural tics, George is generally more heartfelt than Doran, who substitutes an aerobic stage presence and high-decibel theatricality for feeling.

Melora Marshall as the Nurse and David Anthony Smith as Mercutio (alternating with Michael Ambrosio) are seasoned performers who handle Shakespeare’s language well. The same cannot be said of others in this ambitious but uneven effort. However, the Theatricum’s lush locale and the balmy Topanga breezes largely soothe one’s irritation over the production’s inadequacies.

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* “Romeo and Juliet,” Theatricum Botanicum, 1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga. Sundays, 4 p.m. Ends Sept. 20. $12-$17. (310) 455-3723. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.