Sara Bruner knows Romeo and Juliet as well as anyone. Indeed, she has thrilled audiences as Juliet on a number of occasions…and now, she is directing what is certain to be one of the most anticipated summer experiences at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival: a 2022 production of the classic, with what she is says one foot firmly in the past and more than a few nods to the present.
“Romeo and Juliet is a play about pure love, real love and young love at the center of a world that has become so divisive, so binary,“ said Bruner.
She quickly added that there wouldn’t be any true sparks between the star-crossed lovers with real friction among their families.
“You know, if the ancient grudge didn't exist between the Capulets and the Montagues, their story would have been completely different. It wouldn't be a love story that was happening inside a pressure cooker over the course of three days. And things could have been very different.”
Just prior to their opening, Bruner joined Angela Utrera who plays Juliet in the new production to visit with Morning Edition host George Prentice.
“We're bringing joy, we're bringing humor. We are offering up a mirror to humanity. The good, the bad and the ugly. We're here to help you feel seen by exhibiting all the multitudinous emotions that one experiences in life.”
Read the full transcript:
GEORGE PRENTICE: It is Morning Edition on Boise State Public Radio News. Good morning I'm George Prentice. “What must be….shall be.” Romeo and Juliet. Indeed, history's greatest love story returns to us this summer at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, and we are delighted to talk a bit about that with Sara Bruner, who delighted us time and again, as Juliet and Ariel and Rosalind and Catherine…and so much more, and as associate artistic director, indeed a creative force…and we are the happy recipients. We remember the wonderful Angela Utrera as Miranda in The Tempest last summer, and she's back to be a Juliet for 2022. Good morning to you both.
ANGELA UTRERA: Good morning.
SARA BRUNER: Good morning, George.
PRENTICE: Sara… how many times have you played Juliet?
BRUNER: Oh…maybe just three, I think.
PRENTICE: Just three?
BRUNER: I think my first ever professional gig, I think, was actually Juliet. I did a tour of it back in 1998, and then I think I played Juliet here twice. Yep, maybe. And actually, now that I'm seeing it, I think maybe I did it on tour again, so maybe four times total. And then I played Mercutio at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival .
PRENTICE: At least from where I sit, this is a slam dunk. Of course Sara Bruner should direct Romeo and Juliet. But I'm I'm curious what your first thoughts were… if there was hesitation… or perhaps you were really anxious to take on this production. So, when this first was floated as an idea to you, what were you thinking?
BRUNER: I'm always anxious. So that's a given. I'm always anxious. I'm always excited. And I always ask myself, how do I get my head straight so that my fears and my anxieties just about the creative process and everything that it entails doesn't get in the way of me doing the best work that I can. And I don't know, maybe, as you can imagine, with Romeo and Juliet, there are a few extra hurdles because it is just so dang famous that the level of expectation is just different with it. You know, if you're doing a new play, nobody knows what to expect and they come in wide eyed. But a lot of people have a lot of favorite moments, favorite versions of Romeo and Juliet, and that definitely changes my job.
PRENTICE: Angela I'm going to ask how you might see Juliet. Some may see her as innocent. I think she may be the smartest character Shakespeare ever penned. Certainly focused. But who is Juliet to you?
UTRERA: To me, Juliet is very smart, young, but very, very smart. And somebody with a very strong will. She knows how to use her skills, in her words, and to get what she wants and to get where she wants to be. And I also think she I don't want to use the word fearless, but extremely courageous. She's very, very, very brave, which is very hard. It's very hard to be it's easier to be fearless than to be brave than to be scared and do the things that you have to do. And I think she does that.
PRENTICE: Sara, do you endorse that?
BRUNER: Yeah, I endorse it 100%. And George, I think you're right that Juliet is probably the smartest person in the canon. And Shakespeare just does her so much justice with how she's written through and through. She just her thought process is brilliant and it's such a joy to listen to it unfold live on stage.
PRENTICE: Sara…we are a cynical lot, at least in 2022. But yet we still seek some honesty, some purity.
BRUNER: Yeah, we are cynical and we certainly all have reasons to be cynical coming from many directions. To me, Romeo and Juliet is a play about pure love, real love and young love at the center of a world that has become so divisive, so binary, so non communicative that t love doesn't have any healthy fuel to grow in a direction that it could. You know, if the ancient grudge didn't exist between the Capulets and the Montagues, their story would have been completely different. It wouldn't be a love story that was happening inside a pressure cooker over the course of three days. And things could have been very different. But Romeo and Juliet, the play itself and the characters are some of Shakespeare's most human characters. I think in the canon they are so wildly realistic in their humor, in their history, and in the way that they exhibit love toward one another. And Romeo and Juliet exemplify that in the purest sense, because they meet one another with a simplicity and they start sharing a common language literally. They start finishing each other's sentences in sonnet form and make a connection that first is about a communication connection and then turns into a physical connection and see what is best in one another. And just simply take joy in being in one another's company in the most simple way possible, which is all to me. The greatest love is just like Juliet has a line about it. I do love thy company. And then Romeo responds and saying, This is my home. You know, like those are really simple lines that Shakespeare has that really encapsulate what love is at its simplest and purest before crunchy, mean, cruel life gets in the way.
PRENTICE: Angela, how do you fall in love with someone on stage?
UTRERA: How do you fall in love with someone on stage? Just being present and genuine. And I think excited because love is exciting. And the falling in love feels exciting and. It feels like you're running a marathon on the inside, but you're keeping it together on the outside. So it's just just being excited to be in the same place at the same time as the person across from you is falling in love on stage. It's very much simpler than the expectations of it.
PRENTICE: I'm going to ask you both the same question. Angela, you go first. Do you think it's possible to see someone and fall in love with someone without knowing who that person is?
UTRERA: I think it is possible to fall in love with the potential of what that person could bring to your life. Hmm. Falling in love with the idea of somebody that specific person being in your life for longer than that moment.
PRENTICE: Sara, what do you think?
BRUNER: I have to believe in it. Those things that can feel like a little bit of magic in the world, like love at first sight. I have to believe in it because what's the fun of all of this anyway? You know, I certainly felt that way about my wife when I met her. There was an unspoken there was a sixth sense. There was some other thing that occurred that was beyond my senses that just kind of dropped in inside of me. So. Absolutely.
,PRENTICE: Wow. Well, Sara, we certainly bring great expectations this particular summer to the amphitheater. So what are you and your colleagues bringing?
BRUNER: We're bringing joy, we're bringing humor. We are offering up a mirror to humanity. The good, the bad and the ugly. We're here to help you feel seen by exhibiting all the multitudinous emotions that one experiences in life.And we're here to bring together a living group of human beings all in the same space, to watch a story starting in daylight and ending in the beautiful evening at the amphitheater.
PRENTICE: Angela, what are you bringing?
UTRERA: I'm bringing a lot of vulnerability, a lot of excitement to share the story and a lot of just hope.
PRENTICE: Hope is good. Sara, what's the best advice you ever got about coping with the heat on stage in Idaho?
BRUNER: I don't know if I've ever gotten any good advice, honestly.
PRENTICE: I have heard stories of articles of clothing being frozen before they're put on. I don't know if they're true or not, but there have to be certain things that you absolutely must or must not do.
BRUNER: I just had this talk with the actors. You have to take care of yourself like you're an athlete and you have to prepare days ahead of time. Because if you show up to the amphitheater tonight, for example, and it's a 100 and whatever, if you start chugging water, then it's too late. Then you have to prep your body. But it's true. George We have we have an awesome costume shop and wardrobe, wardrobe team and they will build undergarments that you can't see on stage, that are underneath costumes that hold ice packs in important places on people's bodies is true. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
PRENTICE: Angela, how are you n the heat?
UTRERA: I am great. I just…. I breathe very well..
BRUNER: George, so it is the perfect play because as you know, Romeo and Juliet, part of why things go so sideways in this world is because what we hear about the heat is now these hot days is the mad blood stirring. So it's meant to be a world full of sweaty, agitated people who are out of breath and half dying.
PRENTICE: The sun goes down, the lights come up on Romeo and Juliet at the amphitheater of the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, running through July 30th. Sarah. Angela, have a grand time. Great good luck to you and thank you so very much.
UTRERA: Thank you.
BRUNER: Thank you, George. Always a pleasure.
