Nothing screams out family entertainment like sex and murder. Add a double suicide into the mix and you got yourself a classic. We don’t watch much television and we would never let Henna see a Twilight movie, but put it in couplets and iambic pentameter and we are there.

Playing every Saturday through March 23 at Navy Pier is Short Shakespeare! Romeo and Juliet. For $16 a ticket (plus $14 for validated parking) you get accomplished actors working on one of the most respected stages in Chicago. You also get an expert fight choreographer which made the sword fighting scenes feel like something out of Star Wars. And the production seemed to have free reign over the Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s costume closet. I think a lot of people had a lot of fun putting this one together. Check it out if you get the chance.

Christopher Allen (Romeo) and Laura Rook (Juliet) Photo by Michael Brosilow

Link to more information: http://www.chicagoshakes.com/
Link to my full review at Splash: http://www.chicago-splash.com/publish/Entertainment/cat_index_chicago_entertainment/short-shakespeare-rome-and-juliet-review.php

One more thing: Immediately after the play ended the actors took questions from the audience. And like always I was disappointed in the questions. I want to know, for example, if the swords are sharp, not whether Shakespeare’s words are still relevant today. Oh well.