The 7 Fingers and Penn Live Arts present Duel Reality

A welcome feud

The show at Penn Live Arts treated viewers to acrobatics performed by international virtuosos Daniela Corradi, Adam Fullick, Gerardo Gutierrez Flores, Michelle Hernandez, Einar Kling Odencrants, Miliéve Modin-Brisebois, Anton Erik Persson, Santiago Rivera Laugerud, Ashleigh Roper, and Arata Urawa. It starts in familiar territory with a conflict, the one about the two households “both alike in dignity” simmering old grudges that “break to new mutiny, / Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.” The “Hands Off” events nearby on the day of the show brought to mind political parties in opposition and the negative impact on human relationships. The 7 Fingers is Canadian, though, and none of Duel Reality’s cast members are American. So much the better, as the show makes a game of the feud between Capulets and Montagues to provide a welcome distraction from political turmoil.

The former team wears blue, the latter red, and the viewers an armband in one of these colors, depending on the location of their seat. Performers planted in the crowd began arguing, a fight broke out, and they took it to the stage. A referee (Urawa) drew a line in chalk, and a series of competitions demonstrated the performers’ skills in juggling and Chinese pole. They climbed the pole, swung from it, leaped from it into their teammates’ arms, and slid down face first at breakneck speeds. Countless hula hoops spun around Roper’s torso while she twirled more on her hands and feet. Other performers dove through hoops, tumbled while juggling, and hoisted or tossed acrobats into the air.

Direction by Shana Carroll, a co-founder of The 7 Fingers, makes Duel Reality easy to follow, maintains its momentum, and hits key plot points. Meanwhile, the performers’ circus and theater skills created thrilling and moving moments. Kling Odencrants and Persson performed Mercutio and Tybalt’s duel as a breathtaking teeterboard act. Sometimes called Korean plank, the teeterboard resembles a giant seesaw made to launch flipping acrobats high in the air. This scene was a standout sure to quail the heart of the risk-averse viewer.

A quick word

A trapeze duet for Romeo (Gutierrez Flores) and Juliet (Hernandez) wordlessly conveyed their love and longing, while hand-to-hand feats suggested the pair were made for each other. At one point, Juliet balanced atop Romeo’s hands, which he held above his head as she flipped from standing to a handstand and then back to her feet. Lighting by Alexander Nichols initially reinforced divisions, then invoked another type of game as the performers moved like chess pieces. Music by Colin Gagné, Ricardo Isais Collier, and Jean-Sébastien Leblanc incorporated lines and themes from Shakespeare while giving them a contemporary feel.

Additionally, performers spoke some of the famous lines as they were projected onto a screen. Instead of packing a punch, this was Duel Reality’s least effective element. A similar show that toured Philly in 2024, New York Circus Project’s Hamlet, had a similar flaw. The Hamlet performers were mostly inaudible because they lacked microphones. The dialogue in Duel Reality remained hard to hear even though the performers seamlessly passed around microphones. The projected text confused the focus: is the audience meant to read or listen? Are we here for the Bard’s words or The 7 Fingers’ acrobatics?

These were minor issues in a strong show. Duel Reality’s circus artists are among the best I have seen. Reframing an Elizabethan tragedy as a circus arts performance added welcome novelty, as did the new ending. Like the touring musical & Juliet, Duel Reality imagines an alternate future for Shakespeare’s doomed characters. As one of the performers pointed out, “We changed the ending, because who needs a tragedy these days?” I left the theater with hope in my heart and a smile on my face.