New Canon Theatre Co. gives updated justice to Shakespeare’s particular brand of summer sadness.

Things are not well in the city-state of Verona, divided by familial feud and reckless pursuit of power. The Montagues and the Capulets are not only at war with each other, they also take opposite sides on the conflict in Vietnam.

Their people are on the street, protesting for peace or agitating to finish the job. But when they chant “win the war at home,” it’s taken promptly and literally – murdering each other in a flurry of what, if we follow with the assumption that it’s 1968, looks like modern gang violence.

Romeo Montague, played by extremely likable Elijah Eliakim Hernandez, loves life and love. He chases his dreams and urges around town, immature but seemingly earnest. Juliet Capulet – played by Los Angeles actor Celeste Lagrange – is ready to become a bride and dares to choose a man (read: fate) for herself. She is a charming combination of childlike good nature and readiness to face womanhood. Lagrange does a beautiful job portraying this duality.

Hernandez and Lagrange are the lovers in the most recognizableof Shakespeare’s plays, which is the main offering of New Canon Theatre Co.’s summer 2026 season. Directed by Noah Lucé, it’s an ambitious choice of popular material and bold artistic decisions, for example the introduction of 20th-century politics. Spanish lines are added or exchanged for English text, incorporating lines from Pablo Neruda’s 1964 translation of the play. The replacement of Italian flavor with accents familiar to an American setting feels seamless.

The dialogues feel impassioned, humor is evident and all possibilities of body language are exploited. Romeo and Juliet’s crush resonates as fresh and genuine, and J. Matthew Gordon is entertaining as Mercutio – definitely one of the strongest deliveries, dripping with teenage masculinity.

Juliet comes with her own retinue. The warm, overbearing diva nurse is larger than life and charismatic as played by Christina Martos. Juliet’s cold, manipulative mother is played by Justine Stock, who returns in the second act as the apothecary, compensating for the stiffness of Lady Capulet by becoming a hippie witch and choosing her own side in the story.

ROMEO & JULIET runs 7:30pm Thursdays-Saturdays and 4pm Sundays, through June 28. Outdoor Forest Theater, Santa Rita and Mountain View, Carmel. $65; $55/seniors/teachers/military; $20/students. (831) 275-1441, newcanontheatre.org.