A Question of the Ages in Long Beach

How old should be the actors who play the young lovers in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”?

The teenagers often are played by a couple in their 30s or 40s (remember Norma Shearer and Leslie Howard in the 1930s film version?), and sometimes a little younger. But if the actors are the right age, the question is: Do they have the depth to plumb the richness of Shakespeare’s star-cross’d lovers?

In Long Beach Playhouse’s Mainstage production, Romeo and Juliet now are being played by actors in their 20s who have the youthful looks and at times even manage a quick flash of adolescent angst. Too often, however, they take themselves too seriously to be totally believable.

Erin Davis’ Juliet, full of girlish romance in the beginning, too soon begins to foretell the tragedy; her performance darkens and grows in size too quickly for Juliet’s good. (Interestingly, Davis played Juliet’s mother with great effect last June at Chapman University.)

As her swain Romeo, Jason Schlatter also manages a bit of effective boyish cut and dash, but generally he plays the young man like an undergraduate law student, which makes several key scenes improbable, especially his tearful collapse in Friar Lawrence’s cell after being banished.

They are both very good in the roles, missing only that youthful breathlessness, even at the shadowy last moments, that could wrench the heart. Like the production generally, they’re very close, just not totally on target.

Director Darlene Hunter-Chaffee has staged a fairly standard reading of the play, which is interestingly handled so that neither Romeo nor Juliet dominates. Her use of the long thrust stage is highly effective visually, and she has a fine sense of the play’s varying rhythms. In tandem with Rand Hudson’s excellent fight choreography in the fencing scenes, Hunter-Chaffee keeps the drama’s crescendo moving along nicely.

She has also surrounded her young lovers with some very solid performances. Prime among these is Sandy Johnson’s terrific Nurse, who adds just a slight edge of lower-class humor, though not enough to take away her strong sense of presumed class and wisdom. Eliot Arnold’s Mercutio, although he might find more magic in his well-done Queen Mab speech, is colorful and charming; even his death scene is solidly done.

Andrew Diaz accomplishes a neat trick in making the usually unlikable Tybalt appealingly intelligent enough that we can sympathize with cousin Juliet’s chagrin at his death. Matt Kelsey’s Paris makes more of this difficult role than is usual, with a good understanding of the verse patterns and a rewarding subtext.

In another difficult role, Terra Shelman plays hard on Lady Capulet’s disagreeable nature, but when she smiles at her daughter, Juliet’s affection is clearly earned. Less effective is Greg Leach’s highly dramatic take on Friar Lawrence, which he overdoes without giving the priest’s humor any light or kindness.

Juliet’s righteous and impossible father, Lord Capulet, is given little color by John Gilbert nor much depth. An equally tepid reading weakens Mychael Barnes’ Prince of Verona.

BE THERE

“Romeo and Juliet,” Long Beach Playhouse Mainstage, 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays at 2 p.m. Ends Oct. 30. (562) 494-1616. Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes.