a review in one act
CHARACTERS
TANYA, the writer, who’s been burned by “inventive” takes on Shakespeare before
KATE, New Yorker and Broadway enthusiast, who already knows how it goes.
SETTING: The Delacorte Theater, Central Park.
TIME: An evening in early June 2026.
SCENE 1
(Amsterdam Avenue, a little after six. The sun dances on the city streets the way it only does on a summer evening in New York — golden and full of ambitious promise. Uptown, KATE has just come from the Delacorte, two paper tickets in her pocket. She dials. Below the street, on a train that won’t hurry, TANYA answers.)
KATE
(into the phone)
Hey, Tan — I got them. The actual tickets! Picked them up at the Delacorte just now.
TANYA
Oh — brilliant! I’m so glad the TodayTix lottery came through, and the pick-up went smoothly.
KATE
Fourth time I entered. I’d just about given up on it — and then tonight, two seats to Romeo and Juliet. It’s such luck, honestly. The alternative is waiting on line at a distribution center out in the boroughs for hours, for a “chance” at them.
TANYA
Yeah – in the heat, and no guarantee. No thank you !
(a beat)
Have you eaten? I haven’t.
KATE
No — I’m starving. There’s a South Indian place on Amsterdam near West 80th, Saravana Bhavan. Get off at 79th Street and walk up. I’ll grab a table.
TANYA
That’s a good shout. I’ll try not to get lost on the subway — no promises, though.
(Later. Fed and happy, they walk down West 81st, the street emptying, naturally, toward the park, the sky painted a bruised summer blue.)
TANYA
I don’t think I’ve ever really seen a play outdoors. Closest I’ve come is standing in the yard at the Globe in London — and I don’t know that I’d call that outdoors. Roofless, yes, but it’s still the Globe.
KATE
Well, this is open-air — amphitheater seating, a minimal stage. But I hear they do a lot with a little, and that it’s captivating. It’s also supposed to be a take on the original play – so I am expecting some allegorical devices. I also hear some of the dialogue between Romeo and Juliet is in Spanish – I think it’s sort of meant to be a love language between the two.
TANYA
See, that’s exactly what I’m afraid of.
KATE
(Cheekily)
You’re afraid of Spanish?
TANYA
(rolling her eyes)
No, of course not. I mean I don’t know a word of Spanish, and yet, I suspect that part will be fine. I’m just skeptical of when people do these “inventive takes” on classic Shakespeare. I saw a Taming of the Shrew at the Globe once — what a godawful rendition. I walked out of that absurdist carnival halfway through. Never done that before, haven’t since.
KATE
YOU walked out?
TANYA
It was bad, Kate. The Guardian gave it two stars.
KATE
Well, I’ve heard this one is good. They haven’t done Romeo and Juliet out here in almost 20 years. Maybe it could redeem your Taming of the Shrew Experience.
TANYA
One can only hope.
(The path opens. The newly revitalized Delacorte sits low against the trees. The two of them find their seats and consider the stage, waiting almost bare.)
SCENE 2
(Intermission. The lights find a crowd already moving — plastic cups, playbills — toward the concession stands. TANYA and KATE join the line.)
TANYA
Water?
KATE
Lemonade, actually. And we should grab a magnet, or a tote, or something – always good to have a keepsake.
TANYA
A magnet for me. I’ll grab another copy of the playbill from the usher, for Lucas.
KATE
(to the vendor, at the front)
A water, a lemonade, and 2 of these magnets, please.
(to TANYA)
So. Talk.
TANYA
About?
KATE
Your first outdoor play – you’ve been leaning forward the whole time, watching like a hawk. I’m willing to bet you are bursting at the seams with thoughts.
TANYA
It’s good…umm.. I’m definitely interested. I think I will reserve my judgement though, for after the play.
KATE
(flatly)
You’re reserving judgement.
TANYA
I did like it – I think it’s going well so far. I like the concept. It’s just….
(hesitates)
I don’t know, Kate. The costumes. They’re a mess.
KATE
Okay – there it is. Tell me more.
TANYA
Not to be harsh – I appreciate what they are going for. It’s not even the first time I’ve seen the move; The National Theatre did something like this with Coriolanus. Everyone was in modern, corporate looking formal wear and suits. But that felt cohesive. This feels like a rummage sale – some people in streetwear, some in kind-of-formal wear, and some in long flowing gowns. If there is a point, I am missing it.
KATE
I think they are trying to make Shakespeare land for a modern crowd. The costumes are just one way they are reaching for that. Did you notice the whole thing is being rendered in a sort of telenovela register? That, I think, is trying to do the same thing. The clothes are meant to also mark the two houses – different styles and different colours.
TANYA
Okay – that’s fair. I still think it’s messy but I’ll concede and try to meet the play for where it is and not where I want it to be.
USHERS
The performance will resume in two minutes.
(KATE and TANYA return to their seats and TANYA grabs an extra copy of the Playbill from the cardboard box full of them by the USHERS feet)
SCENE 3
(The play has ended — and then it hasn’t. The audience is up, then still, as a cast member steps out to announce a surprise. On the stage a real couple stands where the ficitional lovers stood, and a friar is officiating their wedding. Applause breaks like weather.
After the brief ceremony, the crowd begins to disperse. TANYA and KATE begin to make their way out.)
TANYA
I can’t believe they just married actual people. Did we just witness a real wedding?
KATE
Yeah – wow. A friend told me they’d done it at a few performances; I just did not realize it was going to happen every night. I’ll admit I had trouble believing her. Figured it had to be some kind of gimmick. Wow.
TANYA
Kate – actual people. A wedding. We witnessed a wedding on a random Thursday in the city?
KATE
Pretty incredible. So. Purist. What’s the verdict now?
TANYA
….I don’t love it. But I did like it. I loved that they used the play as an allegory for US-Mexico relations, the border, and immigration tensions – very inventive, and well executed.
KATE
Same. And did you notice, it wasn’t only Romeo and Juliet who slipped into Spanish?
TANYA
Yes! I thought that was brilliant — so much better than the secret-love-language angle. It’s subtle; it isn’t often anyone but the two of them does it, but there are these tiny moments where they do. Like a character slipping into their mother tongue when English can’t hold the size of the feeling.
KATE
Jeez, talk about an erudite opinion.
TANYA
(laughs)
Yeah, I do let my mind wander quite a bit with this stuff.
KATE
I feel you. I keep thinking about that wedding. Past the “tug at your heartstrings” of it all – it works in the context of the play itself, I think. Romeo and Juliet has achieved a sort of mythic status in the Shakespearean canon. Of course, it remains one of his most popular plays but it sometimes feels un-relatable to people. I think having a real couple exchanging vows and being wed kind of ties this potentially out of reach or larger than life story to an optimistic realism. Directional brilliance, in my opinion!
TANYA
…That’s exactly it, isn’t it. He took the oldest, biggest story we’ve got — practically a fossil, retold into myth — and put two real people inside it who actually meant it. Made the legend keep a promise.
(a beat)
Saheem Ali — that’s the director?
KATE
Yeah, that’s him.
TANYA
He knew exactly what he was doing.
KATE
Told you it would redeem your Taming of the Shrew
TANYA
Yeah – at the very least, it reminded me why I keep going back.
(Their conversation ends as they exit the park and have arrived at the train station that will then take them home. A perfect curtain call on a perfect summer evening.)
END OF PLAY
Seen: 4 June 2026 | The Revitalized Delacorte Theater | Central Park
Director: Saheem Ali
Runtime: 2 hours and 40 minutes, including one intermission
