Review: Sister Shakes Shakes Up "Romeo & Juliet"

Romeo & Juliet Written by William Shakespeare Directed by Sam Stone Presented by Sister Shakes Productions at UNDER St. Marks 94 St. Marks Place, Manhattan, NYC August 5-14, 2022 Everyone reading this probably knows at least one line of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet . But even in such an omnipresent cultural text, consider how much potential variation is latent in that line depending on who says it, how, and in what context. With its new production of Romeo & Juliet , Sister Shakes Productions, a company founded in 2017 that centers "female-identifying and non-binary stories and perspectives," offers yet another new experience of this familiar work. Sister Shakes presents its abridged version of the play, running about ninety minutes, with gender-blind casting, a choice which destabilizes and queers the work's heteropatriarchal underpinnings. No matter to what degree one may see the text itself as critical of those underpinnings, this production opens spaces