Theater review: ‘Duel Reality’ athleticism dazzles at the Globe, but story is muddled

Gerardo Gutiérrez as Romeo and Michelle Hernandez as Juliet in the 7 Fingers’ “Duel Reality,” now playing at the Old Globe in Balboa Park. “Duel Reality” is a good name for the 7 Fingers troupe’s latest touring show, which opened Thursday at the Old Globe.

Inspired by William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” “Duel Reality” pits the rival Capulet and Montague families against each other in a contest of athletics. As in the Bard’s play, Juliet Capulet and Romeo Montague fall in love, but their families’ pull them apart. Or at least they try. As opposed to the warring red and blue camps in American politics, these acrobatic families find unity.

For aficionados of Shakespeare, which most Old Globe-goers are, very little of the Bard’s play or its characters are represented. And for non-Shakespeare fans, the lines of text from the play — which are projected on a screen in Old English font and spoken into microphones by the acrobats, most of whom speak English as a second language — don’t make much sense.

Also exciting was the contest between Chinese pole athletes Marco Ingaramo and Kalani June, who drop head-first from great height to catch their fall just an inches above the floor. And starring as Romeo and Juliet are the graceful Mexico City-raised acrobat and trapeze artists Gerardo Guitiérrez and Michelle Hernandez.

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