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Arts / Kelly kisses Juliet goodbye

Kelly Paterniti as Juliet... “I guess it’s the last time I'll be able to do the part.” Photo by Daniel Boud
Kelly Paterniti as Juliet… “I guess it’s the last time I’ll be able to do the part.” Photo by Daniel Boud

JULIET – she’s the stronger half of the world’s most famous starcross‘d lovers and to play her is the dream of every young actress and, sometimes, not-so-young actress.

Luckily for Bell Shakespeare Co’s Kelly Paterniti, who scored the role in the company’s upcoming production of “Romeo and Juliet”, she’s played it before in hometown Perth when she was much closer to the stated age of Juliet. For just as we know that Hamlet is precisely 30, so we know Juliet is just about to turn 14 and there’s no getting away from it, Paterniti is twice her age.

“I guess it’s the last time I’ll be able to do the part,” she concedes.

“It’s a really demanding role, she is so incredibly intelligent… I played her before when I was much closer to her age, but it’s different now; I’m more mature and I can throw myself into the emotion and the feeling.”

Juliet (Kelly Paterniti) and Romeo (Alex Williams) star in Bell Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”. Photo by Daniel Boud.
Juliet (Kelly Paterniti) and Romeo (Alex Williams) star in Bell Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”. Photo by Daniel Boud.

The disadvantage is that perhaps the role loses a bit of innocence “but, honestly, I don’t see how a 14-year-old could play this character,” she says.

Paterniti lays out her evidence. Juliet is more intellectual than Romeo, she’s the one who makes the decision to get married and where and when. Even in the scene where she has to deal with the impending banishment of Romeo, she is the more pragmatic one.

“She is so smart I can see why actors would want to play her… she starts out an obedient daughter and ends up a very brave wise young woman who makes her own decision to leave the family, to do what is right for her.”

Mind you, as parental role-models the Capulets are not up to much. The behaviour of mother and father Capulet she describes as “quite appalling, especially the father, who seems to be a reasonable man and then in one swift moment completely banishes all of her hopes… I get the feeling that the adults in her life really let her down, but she is very mature in the way she handles it”.

Then there is Juliet’s exceptional bravery. Even though Friar Laurence is arguably a dodgy character, expert in secret poisons, she is prepared to drink his potion to simulate death.

“They’re fabulous characters in this play,” she says as she considers that even the worst of them provide great opportunities for players.

Paterniti and her Romeo, Alex Williams, have been enjoying a dramatic change from the screen work that has hitherto dominated their careers, working with an ensemble of actors who do movement classes every day to help them realise BSC director Peter Evans’ subtle mix of Elizabeth and Italian Renaissance – “Verona and all that,” as she says. But at the same time, she says “there is a contemporary feel – we want to fill out those beautiful costumes, not make them rule us”.

Bell Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, The Playhouse, April 1-9, bookings to canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 6275 2700.

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Helen Musa

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