Interview: Kalani June And Marco Ingaramo of DUEL REALITY at The Old Globe

Jul 19

Written By

The performers of The 7 Fingers are all talented artists who do circus acrobatics, dance, and soar through the air with the greatest of ease. Last summer they brought “Passengers” to The Old Globe and this summer they brought “Duel Reality”, an energetic and competitive spin on “Romeo and Juliet” for the audience to enjoy. Kalani June and Marco Ingaramo talk about the show, their section in the show, and how important audience participation is in the show. “Duel Reality” is at The Old Globe through August 4th.

Photo credit: The cast of Duel Reality. Photo by Jim Cox

“Duel Reality” uses Shakespeare’s classic as a base for the plot, but approaches the story in an entirely new way, With a little of the play’s dialogue and a lot of movement on a sports auditorium-type stage, the show takes inspiration from many of the adaptions of this classic play, including some deviations to make it their own.

"This show is a take on Romeo and Juliet, with hints of ‘West Side Story’ and sports arena vibes. There are teams, and competition, acrobatics, music, crazy stunts as well as love and connection and an ending that is unlike what you’d expect from your typical Shakespeare show," said Marco Ingaramo.

In this athletic competition, each section is judged by a referee to determine the winner. Ingaramo and June compete head to head in an audience-pleasing, duel filled with leaps, twists, and death-defying drops on the Chinese pole.

"Chinese pole is an acrobatic discipline in which you do flips, drops, and twists on a vertical metal pole. What’s great about pole is that it’s very individual to each acrobat based on body types or style preferences. Both of us were drawn to incorporating more flow and dance to our styles without losing the technique and “wow factor” that flips and drops give the audience and what makes it so cool as an apparatus," explains Kalani June.

The audience is also a participant in this show, getting assigned which family they are cheering for (Blue for Capulet and Red for Montague) based on their seating in the theatre which extends onto the stage. Audiences are encouraged to cheer, taunt, and sigh as their families win or lose, and fall in love. For both Marco and Kalani, their interaction only adds to the thrill of the performance.

"In general, performing for a live audience is a very thrilling and satisfying feeling as a performer. In this show in particular, the audience plays an even more important role because of the competitive factor of our act. There is no better feeling than hearing the audience react to a trick when you really nail it,” Marco says

Kalani agrees, adding "Our final head slide is one of the most talked about tricks in our act, mostly because the audience can really understand what our goal is for that move. This part of the act is not set. The referee really decides who went lower without touching the floor. It adds another layer of thrill for us because we never really know who is going to win and to hear the audience's reaction is the cherry on top."