Reviews of shows from the New York International Fringe Festival will appear on ArtsBeat from now to the festival's close on Aug. 26. For more information, go to fringenyc.org.
Follow me here: I was moved by seeing a man in the role of a young woman being kissed by a second guy, playing a teenage boy, who minutes earlier portrayed an old lady. And that wasn't the only instance of unexpected emotion in “2 Households, 2 ________: Shakespeare's R&J,†a pretty good show despite a fairly bad (and unprintable) title.
In the play, Aaron Muñoz and Sam Muñoz (they are not related) take on some 20 characters in their hourlong, two-man version of “Romeo and Juliet.†It's a reasonably faithful adaptation, treating the famous speeches and scenes with due reverence while accentuating the ample humor.
That humor becomes all the funnier with the constant character switching. It is delightfully confusing to find y ourself convinced of a young woman's infatuation, only to double-take when realizing that she is in fact portrayed by a rotund man. Such casting, standard in Shakespeare's time, is rare today and smartly managed by these dexterous actors.
Serious moments are similarly well handled. The murder of Mercutio is angry and intense, while the balcony scene is gentle and sweet. Swordplay and fistfights are surprisingly exciting.
To be sure, “2 Households†occasionally sacrifices clarity for speed; it can seem as if the words are being sped through rather than savored. And the two men, who together adapted and directed the play, would benefit from an outside hand to help them reign in a few scattershot sections. But overall the show, on a bare stage at the SoHo Playhouse, is nicely conceived and performed. It's also clever without being too gimmicky.
Except for that tacky title.
“2 Households, 2 __________: Shakespeare's R&J†continues through Sunday at the SoHo Playhouse, 15 Vandam Street, SoHo; (866) 468-7619, two-households.com.
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