We saw the UBC (University of British Columbia) production of “Romeo and Juliet” last week and had a rip-roaring good time. The inventive direction by Catriona Leger gave Bill Shakespeare’s tragic love story a wild, funny, and exciting turn. In the cozy theatre-in-the-round, we had a 3-D experience far better than “Avatar.” We were served cookies during the Capulet dinner party, had flames of fire twirled at us, and even had Romeo himself hide at our feet at one point.

In this university production, I couldn’t help but think that this is what Shakespeare had in mind. It was a rollicking fun night. Lots of laughter, music, circus antics, and audience involvement. Yes, the fighting and murder and suicide and doomed love was all there, too. Still, not the usual by-the-book fare we get in high school productions, and not the overblown production we get at professional venues.

The talent was superb, both on stage and behind the scenes. Inventive set design and lighting, make-up and costumes, music and choreography (some mighty exciting fight scenes), stage management and props, a first rate cast and all the hidden details made this as pro as they go without paying the union dues.

Sure, school plays are a part of every family’s experience. The Christmas pageants (or have they Santa-Claused them nowadays?), the grade school assemblies, and the high school musicals. That’s my little Johnny, the third tree from the left.

But let’s talk bang for your buck. Broadway prices sometimes top four hundred dollars ($400) per ticket, and you sit in a small stadium to watch the action from afar. Pro venues across the country are typically smaller, but from what I’ve experienced they’re also money traps. High school plays are cheap, but they are exercises in redundancy, the same half dozen plays produced from coast to coast year after year.

College plays are where you get the serious young honed talent, the ready-to-be-discovered superstars of tomorrow. The effort is nothing less than daring-yet-professional. The prices are comparatively cheap, and the afterglow is very satisfying.

Six-Eye Jackson

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