When Pembroke Players announced last January that their whole 2025-2026 season would be variations of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, my first question was: why? It’s not unusual for a theatre company to choose a theme for their seasons, but this was a programming move I’d never seen before, promising three different versions of the same story. Pembroke Players’ promotional material pitched it as an opportunity to explore what it’s like to fall in love at all stages of life.
I’ll be honest: Romeo and Juliet isn’t a story that does much for me. I tend to find the “love at first sight” and “star-crossed lovers” romance tropes juvenile rather than profound and timeless. Since this aversion also applies to other well-known adaptations like the musical West Side Story, I went into this Pembroke season curious if seeing three different takes on the same story would open a door in my skeptical heart.
Is there really enough meat on this play’s bones to justify a company revisiting it through an entire season? The season-long meta-theatrical experiment didn’t make me a Romeo and Juliet fan, but it did present a strong message that feels like a direct response to the current moment.
Pembroke Players: Romeo & Juliet: Forever
Director: Jenny Guy
Tulsa Performing Arts Center, Liddy Doenges Theatre
October 30, 2025
Pembroke Players launched its first venture into Romeo and Juliet by staging the play at sea, further upending expectations with an age-reversed cast, where the titular characters are played by seniors and the parents and caretakers are played by young adults. They all embark on what’s supposed to be separate Montague and Capulet family vacations, but everyone’s plans get shaken up when Romeo and Juliet spot each other at a party on the deck, and here’s the catch: they were lovers before!
From a technical standpoint, this production truly captured a mood from the moment I entered the theater. With acoustic covers of love’s greatest hits, a stop-you-in-your-tracks, two-story cruise ship set by Rich Goss, and Mal Lindsay’s dreamy lighting design—with twinkling blues, stars, and an effect that made the stage floor look like flowing water—I felt utterly whisked away. I continued to be impressed with Pembroke Players’ tech throughout the show, especially the fantastical light shift when Romeo and Juliet saw each other for the first time.