Romeo and Juliet, Tripaway Theatre, in Lincoln Park. Performing Shakespeare under the stars is a popular approach in summer, but what’s a small-budget company to do when their performance space is a grassy grove far from electric lighting, artificial amplification, and man-made scenery? Well, Tripaway Theatre in its production of Romeo and Juliet illuminates the stage with patio lanterns, stadium torches, and 17th-century-style candle-and-mirror footlights. The actors are uniformly costumed in white shirts and black trousers–a practical way to deal with multiple casting and with this production’s arboreal balcony scene, which has Juliet straddling the fork of a wind-splintered tree. Moreover, director Karin Shook has instructed her thespians to play their roles with broad characterizations and inflections and plenty of vigorous physical action.
