William Shakespeare famously declared, “All the world’s a stage.” A theater troupe in Estonia took the direction literally when it turned an entire quarry into a theater to stage Romeo and Juliet. The Motoretti and Carburetti families are played by various trucks and other pieces of heavy equipment. Romeo is, of course, a rebellious monster truck. Meanwhile Juliet is a cheeky red Ford Ranger.
This isn’t just a “let slip the trucks of war” demolition derby. It looks like a carefully choreographed heavy-equipment dance. Fight scenes feature drifting trucks. SUVs get rolled off cliffs. And the entire performance is set to music borrowed from other adaptations: Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette opera, Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet ballet, and Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet movie. The small army of equipment operators and drivers involved is obviously supremely competent.
Most of the vehicles are decorated slightly, from a concrete mixer covered in graffiti hearts to equipment with the logos of the two families painted on doors. The effect looks realistic—like the fleets of two rival construction companies. The program describes Romeo as “a working-class rebel who likes to push boundaries.” Meanwhile, a nimble, tracked skid-steer weaves in and out of scenes while acting as the narrator.
Want to know what vehicles represent the other characters? Friends, Romans, countrymen: lend me your gears.
The mechanized stars of Kinoteater’s Romeo and Juliet
The Motoretti family includes Romeo’s sidekick Mercutio (an excavator), and of course Romeo (a highly modified rally truck). The Carburettis include Juliet’s cousin Tybalt (a hydraulic hammer), Juliet’s father Lord Carburetti (a fire truck), the henchman Sampson (a front loader), and of course Juliet (a foreign-market four-door Ranger).
In addition to the skid-steer narrator, the troupe also uses city buses as the heralds who announce events such as the ball. Count Paris—Juliet’s other suitor—is a semi-truck. Secret messages are delivered by Pigeon Post (a tiny RC car), and Fortinbras from Hamlet makes an appearance as “a messenger of a new era” (played by an EV). If diesel be the food of love, drive on!
The Kinoteater troupe promises a balcony scene, fight scenes, and intrigue. But honestly, you had me at “Romeo the monster truck.” Sadly, the first run of this glorious production was a single weekend and is already over. We can only hope it tours internationally. To tow or not to tow?
You can see the local Estonian news coverage of Romeo and Juliet in the video embedded below. (Note: video in Estonian).
