The Seven Fingers is a group of acrobats/dancers/actors that tells stories through movement. Last year, they came to the Old Globe with Passengers, a meditation on train travel. Now, they are back with Duel Reality, a fun take on Romeo and Juliet.
Duel Reality plays up the tribalism in Shakespeare’s masterpiece. Two factions, topically dressed in red and blue, fight it out. The audience gets to join in, as there are seats onstage and everyone receives a red or blue armband. The crowd gets into it, shouting support for their newly discovered tribes.
The rest is a series of intricately choreographed, seemingly impossible acrobatic maneuvers with a smattering of Shakespeare. People climb polls with seeming ease. There is juggling, hula hoop, diabolo tossing. Each trick seems more amazing than the last. While there’s no real story, there is a lot of action, as the two factions “fight” and engage in competitions of strength and skill.
Duel Reality is thrilling, at least partially, because it is so evidently dangerous. At one point, two opponents take each other on in a see-saw competition – a literal see-saw. As one antagonist comes down, the other flies up. The blue team member went so high he was almost lost to sight.
The show is less Shakespeare than Cirque de Soleil, but I’m not sure that matters. The true magic of Duel Reality is that it can so effortlessly move us. The scenes in which Romeo and Juliet come together are touching in their simplicity – two people yearning for each other.
Duel Reality is not theater in any standard sense, but it is great showmanship and incredibly fun to watch. You won’t get much Shakespeare, but you will be amazed.
