Shakespeare is constantly being reinvented with contemporary interpretations intended to offer modern relevance. So it's probably not surprising that a contagious outbreak, masks, and simmering anger over lockdowns are at the center of some new productions of Romeo and Juliet. Except those aren't actually new elements. This play has always been about life in a pandemic.
Isabel Smith-Bernstein is a dramaturge with the Utah Shakespeare Festival, which this year is staging four Shakespeare works — Timon of Athens, Coriolanus, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Romeo and Juliet. The festival runs through early October and you can learn more about those plays and the other being staged in Cedar City at bard.org.
