The Two Gentlemen of Verona | Bard on the Beach | BMO Mainstage | June 13 – September 19
Mullets, 80s music, and a dog…in a Shakespeare play? This unconventional production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona directed by Dean Paul Gibson is infused with nostalgia and fun; it’s going to be Bard’s hit of the summer.
Right off the top, we’re thrust into a 1980s mood with rousing music, colourful lights, and dancing. The fun continues with references and soundtracks from classic 80s movies sprinkled throughout, including the iconic “Oh Yeah” from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Carmen Alatorre’s costume design firmly sets us in the 80s with neon colours and bold patterns.
Proteus (Jacob Leonard) and Valentine (Matthew Ip Shaw) start off with a bit of a bromance as they talk about Valentine going to Verona and how much they will miss each other. It is short lived, however, as Proteus follows soon after and devises a plot to smear Valentine’s name and woo his love interest, Silvia (Agnes Tong).
Meanwhile, Proteus has left his girlfriend, Julia (Tess Degenstein), behind and she is beside herself. She shares an entertaining scene with Lucetta (Steffanie Davis) whose expressions and eyerolls are perfectly mocking. Lucetta, singing along to Alison Moyet’s “Invisible” on her Walkman, walks in on Julia doing aerobics. Lucetta has a letter for Julia, and Julia goes back and forth about whether she wants to read it or not, until an exasperated Lucetta takes her at her word and rips it up. In a bit of hilarious physical comedy, Julia attempts to piece together some of what was said, chastising herself for not reading it earlier.
Lucetta also shines in a pool party scene as she sports a giant inflatable flamingo. The pool party also features some Back to the Future references and a clever punchline that involves another classic 80s film.
The 80s references are too numerous to mention, but a couple more that stand out include the stagehands wearing yellow jumpsuits and red cone hats in Devo style and Silvia giving a painting of herself to Proteus that looks like Duran Duran’s Rio album cover. Like a great 80s film, to catch all the details I think you’d need to see this production a few times.
Mason the golden lab plays Proteus’s dog, Crab, which is a pretty big deal for Mason — he’s landed the only role for a dog role in Shakespeare’s canon. Launce (Scott Bellis) leads the adorable Crab on and off stage, and they share a memorable scene with Launce proclaiming that Crab has no empathy: “I think Crab, my dog, be the sourest-natured dog that lives,” to which the crowd audibly ‘awes’ as we can see no hint of sourness in the sweet dog on stage. Launce delivers his monologue detailing his parting from home with great emotional depth, and a bit of humour. “I am the dog: no, the dog is himself, and I am the dog—Oh! The dog is me, and I am myself.”
As Valentine’s servant says, “Love is blind,” and both Proteus and Valentine are unable to see things clearly. Silvia and Julia, on the other hand, are trying to knock some sense into them, with Julia resorting to disguising herself as Sebastian to follow Proteus to Verona.
Silvia’s paternally-approved suitor, Turio, is wonderfully played as a jock by Tanner Zerr. He seems caught up in the middle of this mess and isn’t quite sure if he even wants to pursue Silvia.
After being banished from Verona, Valentine encounters a gang of outlaws, who seem to channel the aesthetic of Iron Maiden. They take him on as their leader, and they play a prominent role in a subversion of the final scene, in which Valentine is supposed to forgive Proteus for attempting to rape Silvia, and both Silvia and Julia forgive the men for their actions, and everyone lives happily ever after. That isn’t the ending you’ll see here. Let’s just say, love is a battlefield.
