The line “Let hands do what lips do” in “Romeo and Juliet” may have been the starting point for Red Theater Chicago’s American Sign Language-infused “R&J: The Vineyard,” presented in association with Oracle Productions. The star-crossed lovers in Janette Bauer and Aaron Sawyer’s adaptation (directed by Sawyer) are deaf. Martha’s Vineyard, the stand-in for Verona here, had a thriving deaf community in the 1800s that developed its own sign language, spoken by hearing and deaf island citizens alike.
The recent success of DeafWest’s version of “Spring Awakening” on Broadway helps lay the groundwork for ASL in shows outside of plays, such as Nina Raines’ “Tribes,” that are about life as a hearing-impaired person. Brendan Connelly’s Romeo and McKenna Liesman’s Juliet (Connelly is hearing impaired, Liesman is not) transcend the familiar Shakespearean poetry to find a world beyond words — and given that the lovers in the original don’t spend that much time talking to each other, the signed passions give textures beyond the iambics. (Crom Saunders headed a team of translators from English to ASL for this production.)
The setting, while interesting, doesn’t get fully fleshed out as a source of conflict. This story isn’t as much about Montagues vs. Capulets as it is about those who accept and understand signing and those who do not. Jeff Kurysz does strong double duty as Paris, who is first seen testing out a new — and apparently painful — hearing device on Juliet (whose family doesn’t sign, preferring to use Beth Harris’ Nurse as a translator), and as Tybalt, who mocks the “deaf speech” of Connelly’s Romeo and Chris Schroeder’s Mercutio.
Sawyer cunningly uses cross-gender casting with Brenda Scott Wlazlo’s Benvolio, Simone Zebot’s “Sister Laurence” and Lona Livingston’s Lady Capulet. The latter functions as a composite of both of Juliet’s parents, and her lines are simultaneously projected in supertitles, creating a further sense of deliberate distancing between the language and the action.
Wlazlo’s loyal friend-to-Romeo not only moves fluidly between signing and speaking, but also serves as a sort of winged choral figure — the wings coming off the costume Mercutio wears to the Capulet ball. The strong suggestion that Mercutio’s death has left Benvolio as bereft as the tragic twosome of the title heightens the sense of isolation running through the play.
Even in the long silent signing sections, the story resonates clearly. And just as it’s refreshing to find plays that incorporate other foreign languages with the assumption that astute audiences can translate from the context, “R&J: The Vineyard” provides a clear path through an overly familiar story for those who have eyes to see.
Review: “R&J: The Vineyard” by Red Theater Chicago and Oracle Productons
3 stars
Through Nov. 21, Oracle Theatre, 3809 N. Broadway; tickets free but reservations suggested at www.publicaccesstheatre.org More Top Picks Best Blue Light Reading Glasses