Starcrossed review – gay romance riff on Romeo and Juliet is a giddy light | Theatre | The Guardian

Contents:

• THE QUEER, QUEER WORLD OF ROMEO & JULIETMIL BOUCHER·FOLLOW4 M READ·JUN 25, 2018--LISTENSHAREPHOTO BY TYLER NIX ON UNSPLASHDISCLAIMER:I LOVE ROMEO & JULIET.THERE…I SAID , BUT I DO NOT LOVE HOW ROMEO & JULIET IS DONE.HERE ARE TWO WAYS THE SHOW IS DONE AND A THIRD POSSIBLE SOLUTN.THE “STRAIGHTS”THIS IS THE VERSN OF ROMEO & JULIET THAT HAPPENS AT YOUR LOL HIGH SCHOOL. YOU KNOW THE ONE…“THE GREATT LOVE STORY EVER TOLD…” YEAH, THAT’S THE ONE.WHY IS G OUR YOUTH? I’M GLAD YOU ASKED…THE SIMPLE FACT THAT A LOVE STORY SET VERONA, PLAYED BY WHE, STRAIGHT KIDS FOR OTHER WHE STRAIGHT KIDS IS MORALIZG FOR ANYBODY WHO DON’T F THIS ARCHETYPE.AS A FORMER STRAIGHT, WHE GUY, I TOO THOUGHT THIS WAS THE HEIGHT OF ROMANCE.IT GLORIFI ATH AND SUICI.DON’T BELIEVE ME? READ THE PROLOGUE:“A PAIR OF STAR CROSSED LOVERS TAKE THEIR LIFE…[AND] WH THEIR ATH, BURY THEIR PARENTS’ STRIFE.”“IF THE KIDS KILL THEMSELV THEIR PARENTS WILL STOP FIGHTG” DON’T SOUND LIKE A REASONABLE TERVENTN ON THEIR BEHALF.THE SOLE ACT THAT THE TWO, ABED KIDS ARE ABLE TO DO A WORLD THEIR PARENTS ROYALLY SCREWED IS TO KILL THEIR IENDS AND THEN THEMSELV.YEAH. THEY PERFORM THIS HIGH SCHOOL.THE “GAYBI”THIS IS THE VERSN THAT YOUR “EDGY” HIGH SCHOOL DIRECTOR DO.ROMEO & JUL…GET ? ’CSE THEY’RE GAY.ROMEA & JULIET…GET ? ’CSE THEY’RE LBIAN.THIS LEAV A WORSE TASTE MY MOUTH THAN THE “STRAIGHTS.”WHY?IT NTRIBUT TO THE IA THAT QUEER PEOPLE DIE AT THE END OF OUR LOVE STORI. (OR ANY STORY).YOU MAY BE WONRG… “DON’T THE STORY ABOUT THE STRAIGHTS END THE SAME WAY?”AND YOU WOULD BE RIGHT…IF THE STRAIGHTS DIDN’T HAVE EVERY OTHER LOVE STORY TOO.NO, THE QUEERS UALLY GET LOVE THAT ENDS ATH OR LOVE THAT ENDS ABE.THIS IS MY ISSUE: BY CHANGG THE PROTAGONISTS OM STRAIGHTS TO GAYBI YOU GO OM A STORY THAT DON’T (OVERTLY) VOLVE QUEER CHARACTERS (MERCUT LOV ROMEO) TO RERCG THE IA THAT QUEER KIDS DIE AT THE END.THAT ISN’T BRAVE; ISN’T NEW. IT’S TWISTED AND I HATE .THE QUEER WORLD (W/QUEER KIDS)
• STARCROSSED REVIEW – GAY ROMANCE RIFF ON ROMEO AND JULIET IS A GIDDY LIGHT
• QUEERG ROMEO AND JULIET SOUTH KOREA: HOMONORMATIVY AS GAY UTOPIAN FANTASY
• IS MERCUT GAY?
• ROMEO AND JULIET TO BE PERFORMED AS GAY LOVE STORY BETWEEN PREMIER LEAGUE FOOTBALLERS

THE QUEER, QUEER WORLD OF ROMEO & JULIETMIL BOUCHER·FOLLOW4 M READ·JUN 25, 2018--LISTENSHAREPHOTO BY TYLER NIX ON UNSPLASHDISCLAIMER:I LOVE ROMEO & JULIET.THERE…I SAID , BUT I DO NOT LOVE HOW ROMEO & JULIET IS DONE.HERE ARE TWO WAYS THE SHOW IS DONE AND A THIRD POSSIBLE SOLUTN.THE “STRAIGHTS”THIS IS THE VERSN OF ROMEO & JULIET THAT HAPPENS AT YOUR LOL HIGH SCHOOL. YOU KNOW THE ONE…“THE GREATT LOVE STORY EVER TOLD…” YEAH, THAT’S THE ONE.WHY IS G OUR YOUTH? I’M GLAD YOU ASKED…THE SIMPLE FACT THAT A LOVE STORY SET VERONA, PLAYED BY WHE, STRAIGHT KIDS FOR OTHER WHE STRAIGHT KIDS IS MORALIZG FOR ANYBODY WHO DON’T F THIS ARCHETYPE.AS A FORMER STRAIGHT, WHE GUY, I TOO THOUGHT THIS WAS THE HEIGHT OF ROMANCE.IT GLORIFI ATH AND SUICI.DON’T BELIEVE ME? READ THE PROLOGUE:“A PAIR OF STAR CROSSED LOVERS TAKE THEIR LIFE…[AND] WH THEIR ATH, BURY THEIR PARENTS’ STRIFE.”“IF THE KIDS KILL THEMSELV THEIR PARENTS WILL STOP FIGHTG” DON’T SOUND LIKE A REASONABLE TERVENTN ON THEIR BEHALF.THE SOLE ACT THAT THE TWO, ABED KIDS ARE ABLE TO DO A WORLD THEIR PARENTS ROYALLY SCREWED IS TO KILL THEIR IENDS AND THEN THEMSELV.YEAH. THEY PERFORM THIS HIGH SCHOOL.THE “GAYBI”THIS IS THE VERSN THAT YOUR “EDGY” HIGH SCHOOL DIRECTOR DO.ROMEO & JUL…GET ? ’CSE THEY’RE GAY.ROMEA & JULIET…GET ? ’CSE THEY’RE LBIAN.THIS LEAV A WORSE TASTE MY MOUTH THAN THE “STRAIGHTS.”WHY?IT NTRIBUT TO THE IA THAT QUEER PEOPLE DIE AT THE END OF OUR LOVE STORI. (OR ANY STORY).YOU MAY BE WONRG… “DON’T THE STORY ABOUT THE STRAIGHTS END THE SAME WAY?”AND YOU WOULD BE RIGHT…IF THE STRAIGHTS DIDN’T HAVE EVERY OTHER LOVE STORY TOO.NO, THE QUEERS UALLY GET LOVE THAT ENDS ATH OR LOVE THAT ENDS ABE.THIS IS MY ISSUE: BY CHANGG THE PROTAGONISTS OM STRAIGHTS TO GAYBI YOU GO OM A STORY THAT DON’T (OVERTLY) VOLVE QUEER CHARACTERS (MERCUT LOV ROMEO) TO RERCG THE IA THAT QUEER KIDS DIE AT THE END.THAT ISN’T BRAVE; ISN’T NEW. IT’S TWISTED AND I HATE .THE QUEER WORLD (W/QUEER KIDS)

"I thk he probably would if I'm hont, " says Nick Bagnall, who's directg a new versn of Romeo and Juliet, as the Bard (maybe might possibly have) tend - wh two men the lead know Shakpeare tend Juliet to be played by a young man - all female rol were played by boys and men at that this versn, staged by the Liverpool Everyman, is the first time a major Brish theatre has ma about gay theory - put forward by Osr Wil, among others - says Shakpeare wrote Juliet and other girls' rol for a young actor who was the object of his affectns.

But there's snt evince about who this figure was, or where the Bard's affectns ia to turn Romeo and Juliet to a gay love story me when an actor livered one of Juliet's yearng monologu durg an dn. That rais qutns about attus towards homosexualy some untri and muni.

"It mak credibly excg and vastatg when we open up a discsn about young gay men certa untri around the world where, still happeng to this day, they're banished, tortured, abed, sent om their fai, disowned for beg a gay man. In addn, early morns did not e the terms “homosexual” or “gay. As English scholar Ben Snrs says: “In the Renaissance, the love that dare not speak s name is not homosexualy, but rather any love that dar to pos a woman as worthy of a man’s plete votn.

STARCROSSED REVIEW – GAY ROMANCE RIFF ON ROMEO AND JULIET IS A GIDDY LIGHT

None of this means Shakpeare was gay. What do this have to do wh beg gay? Not all gay men are effemate, but what our culture has to offer straight culture is the possibily of lookg at societal norms a different way, and that’s what Shakpeare offers too.

”“If the kids kill themselv their parents will stop fightg” don’t sound like a reasonable terventn on their sole act that the two, abed kids are able to do a world their parents royally screwed is to kill their iends and then They perform this high “Gaybi”This is the versn that your “edgy” high school director & Jul…get ? ”And you would be right…if the Straights didn’t have every other love story, the Queers ually get love that ends ath OR love that ends is my issue: By changg the protagonists om Straights to Gaybi you go om a story that don’t (overtly) volve queer characters (Mercut lov Romeo) to rercg the ia that queer kids die at the isn’t brave; isn’t new. US playwright Rachel Gar has relegated Shakpeare’s famo lovers to the wgs and re-spun Romeo and Juliet as a tragic gay romance between Tybalt and Mercut.

QUEERG ROMEO AND JULIET SOUTH KOREA: HOMONORMATIVY AS GAY UTOPIAN FANTASY

On the g of a most inic love story, another hidn romance blooms between the play’s sendary characters, Mercut and Tybalt, as they stggle and flirt a gay romance set amidst 14th century Verona. An origal play by Lulu Klebanoff ’20, “Tybalt and Mercut Are Dead” reveals a hypothetil gay romance that occurs offstage of “Romeo and Juliet. Even when the characters adm hont nfn regardg their gay tennci, pecially a nservative Verona, they never disregard the relatnship as merely a physil tryst, but rather as an hont, emotnally sensive nnectn.

IS MERCUT GAY?

The weddg of Kim-Cho Kwangsu and Kim Snghwan 2013, the first public gay weddg Korea, remas a sensatn after several years.

ROMEO AND JULIET TO BE PERFORMED AS GAY LOVE STORY BETWEEN PREMIER LEAGUE FOOTBALLERS

Footnote 2 In the weddg ceremony held outdoors downtown Seoul as a prott agast homophobia, a middle-aged Christian man raid the stage and threw a bucket of human faec, clarg himself God's msenger agast homosexualy. First found the mid-1990s, Korean gay and lbian anizatns have grown slowly.

The two shows serve cril attentn as the first Shakpeare productns to foreground the issue of homosexualy the Korean theatre, a manner different om those that played wh gay subtexts, transvtism or genr bendg, such as Theatre Gabyun's Trans Twelfth Night (dir. Footnote 6 Durg the rearch, what stck me as most remarkable was the oppose dience rpons to the two shows, which took different approach to the issue of homosexualy. LAS's Juliet and Juliet, which was rather nservative gay wh s exprsn of most sexual display and sire for monogamo marriage, was hailed as a rare ‘female queer theatre’; Yohangza's Romeo and Juliet, which approximated a queer theatre wh s mp athetics fyg sexual taboo, was nounced as a near-pornographic ‘anti-queer’ ic show.