Jack Burbrink, left, as Benvolio, and Henry Ulrich, as Valentine, rehearse a scene for Columbus East’s production of “After Juliet” at Columbus East High School on April 18.
When actress Emma Burns can feel her eyes overflow with tears, then she can fittingly and believably portray anger and emotional upheaval.
It matters little if those tears happen to be a gusher of eye drops she poured in just before a powerful scene. They become the trigger that alerts the rest of her senses to kick into overdrive. The Columbus East High School senior is utilizing some of that eye-inspiring trickery in perhaps her most prominent role yet as the lead character of Rosaline in the theater department’s presentation of the drama “After Juliet” Friday through Sunday at Clarence E. Robbins Auditorium.
The show, written by Scottish playwright Sharman Macdonald, featured her then-teen daughter Keira Knightley appeared in an early production.
The basic premise of the play, following on from Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, is “What happened to the Capulets and Montagues after Romeo and Juliet died?” according to online sources. Benvolio, Romeo’s best friend, is in love with Rosaline, Juliet’s cousin.
But Rosaline is bent on revenge.
Burns quickly offered a bit of wisdom for those who draw too close of a parallel between this play and “Romeo and Juliet.”
“I love this show,” Burns said. “But I hate ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ And this is kind of perfect, because my character also hates Juliet because of the choices she made. And I don’t like her choices, either.”
Burns even gets herself tickled and chuckling at her disarmingly direct and humorous opinions in a pre-show chat. The directness especially matters here due to Rosaline’s hotheadedness.
“And I really enjoy playing such an angry character,” she said. “That’s kind of been a theme for what I have been cast as.”
Her past, bristling roles have included Antigone her sophomore year and a righteously angry, war-protesting, real-life Molly Rush in the social justice work “Molly’s Hammer” later.
Director Kevin Welsh hopes audiences catch the show’s unsettling-but-realistic theme: “Sometimes someone else can make choices that affect your life. And that isn’t always fair or right. But you have to live with the consequences.”
Welsh added that he understands teens’ attraction to “Romeo and Juliet.”
“Younger people, of course, really have a tendency to really identify with both Romeo and Juliet, and the idea of falling in love quickly, and falling in love hard — and what that can do to you psychologically,” Welsh said. “So I like that this is from a different perspective.
“In this show, you see that people on the outside (of decisions) had consequences also.
“I think this really speaks to teens who feel abused by life, who sometimes will say, ‘Well, that’s not fair! That’s exactly right. Life’s not fair.”
He praised his student crew for their work on sets.
“This has been very student-driven,” Welsh said. “I can see them, taking ownership with pride.”
About the show
What: Columbus East High School Theater Department drama “After Juliet.”
When: 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Columbus East High School’s Clarence E. Robbins Auditorium, 230 S. Marr Road.
Tickets: columbuseasths.seatyourself.biz.
