Never was a story more sorrowful than that of Shakespeare’s tragic young lovers, yet the Public Theater’s Free Shakespeare in the Park production of Romeo and Juliet strikes an odd, lighthearted note. The plot remains intact: youths from feuding families meet, fall in love, and die, but it’s their playfulness that takes center stage rather than the story’s violent end. Adding to the tonal clash, every performance concludes with a real onstage wedding, perhaps meant to offer hope in the face of tragedy.
The production follows the revitalization of the Delacorte Theatre, which reopened last year under Ali’s direction with Twelfth Night; he returns this summer with the star-crossed lovers. Like that play, which incorporated Swahili, Romeo & Juliet furtherembraces a bilingual approach, with Romeo and Juliet speaking to each other in Spanish (translations are by Alfredo Michel Modenessi).
Nueva Verona, where Shakespeare meets the border wall
The code-switching language aligns with Ali’s setting: Nueva Verona, a small town on the U.S.-Mexico border, with the hulking wall looming behind (scenic design by Maruti Evans). Per artistic director Oskar Eustis, the Public’s “job is to marry a 400-year old text with this moment.” Romeo’s friends are anti-ICE protestors, and Juliet’s cousin Tybalt is a border patrol agent.
Unfortunately, the modern twist unnecessarily complicates and feels almost incompatible with Shakespeare’s text. There is little to the production that explains precisely why Romeo and Juliet are starcrossed, or where the animosity between their families arises from, especially because it is only Tybalt who seems to genuinely dislike Romeo.
The production shines brightest in its supporting performers, whose language and delivery most closely fit the source material. Caleb Eberhardt brings a rascally charm to Romeo’s friend, Mercutio; Francis Jue’s well-meaning Friar delivers the play’s emotional core, and Deirdre O’Connell’s Nurse merely has to take a swig from her flask to convey her disillusionment of the family feud.
Free Shakespeare in the Park remains essential—great plays, equally great actors—and Saheem Ali’s ambition is never in question. But in trying to speak to the moment, this Romeo & Juliet provokes when it could devastate.
Is ‘Romeo & Juliet’ worth seeing?
A bilingual Romeo & Juliet with a border-town vision and a standout supporting cast, undone by a modern concept that raises questions the production never answers.
- Delacorte Theater, Central Park, New York City
- Running time: Two hours and 40 minutes, one intermission
- Performances through June 28, 2026
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