A Tender Thing at St. Germain Theater/Barrington Stage Co.

I attended the first preview of Barrington Stage’s A Tender Thing at the St. Germain theater tonight.  Ben Power (The Lehman Trilogy) uses exact text from Romeo And Juliet and moves things around to now tell a story of a Romeo & Juliet who have spent their life together and are now in their golden years.  It was lovely to hear Shakespeare again and I found it quite moving.  Derek Smith is astonishingly good at reciting poetry and was very convincing as a caring husband.  Candy Buckley impressed with her physicality. She goes from dancing and portraying a vigorous woman to a debilitated and frail wife who needs care. Swiftly directed by Alan Paul, it is under 90 minutes, no intermission.