We sat down for an interview with writer, director, and choreographer of Duel Reality and co-founding artistic director of The 7 Fingers, Shana Carroll.

Seattle Rep: We're thrilled to have The 7 Fingers back at Seattle Rep! You brought the original work Passengers to us last season. Where did the idea to use Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet as inspiration for what would develop into Duel Reality come from?

Shana Carroll: It’s been an ongoing dream to do 7 Fingers/circus-infused renditions of various Shakespeare works. I was a theater kid before delving into circus, and my heart and imagination often circle back to beloved classics. In truth, we’ve written various Shakespearean-circus adaptations through the years that have not (yet!) seen the light of day.

The concept for Duel Reality emerged after we were asked to create a show for a specific bifrontal “alley” stage configuration. That setup really lent itself to exploring polarity—the audience divided in half, facing each other—and resembled a sports arena in many ways. This inspired a kind of sporting event-influenced performance that would lean into the notion of tribalism and dichotomy, with groups in red and blue facing off against each other; a testosterone-fueled, exhilarating experience of rooting for a team (that then turns sour when we realize that we, the audience, are complicit in tragedy). After years of contemplating what sort of Shakespeare adaptation we could someday create, we realized: What perfect context for Romeo and Juliet! And suffice to say, the notion of polarized, warring tribes is also deeply relevant right now.

SREP: How do you see Shakespeare's language being elevated by physical movement and circus feats?

SC: What I love about Romeo and Juliet is that the stakes are just so high! Families, lives, and humanity itself are held in the balance by two children who just fancy each other. And circus language has constant, real, undeniable stakes. Using real physical risk to underscore dramatic risk means the audience is feeling those stakes alongside the characters, not just intellectually, but viscerally, too.

The start of the show generates a sort of thrilling football game energy. The inherent athleticism of the circus arts induces visceral, emotional responses from audiences as they witness moments of physical prowess, and both performers and audiences get swept up in that competitive spirit. The audience is not just impartially observing two fictional families fight, but they see themselves as part of a team. And when your team wins a point, we feel that sense of adrenaline and tribalism in our blood.

SREP: Romeo and Juliet is one of the best-known stories in Western literature, and more than 400 years after its debut, our society is still fascinated with it. Why do you think the play remains intense and engaging when most audience members already know the plot and ending?

SC: Love and war. It is the ultimate war story and the ultimate love story! The two most primal forces in our nature. It is in our DNA to “other” another society, because to feel safe we need to feel we belong, but to feel we belong, we need to have a contrasting party that does not belong. So unfortunately, warring tribes in whatever form they take will never fade in relevance. But these two young romantics see past their families (or tribes or gangs or parties...) and love each other within and through that. Because even more fundamentally than wanting to belong, we want to be seen and loved. It’s what stops us from killing each other.

Even though the original story ends in tragedy, it does so as a cautionary tale, which slaps us awake to the real dangers of our most primal, warring urges. We ache to be reminded that love can triumph over war—though in Shakespeare's story, it is through great sacrifice—and we know love is what curbs our worst urges and gives us hope for the future. For a tragedy, this story contains immense messages of hope.

SREP: What do you hope audiences take away from Duel Reality?

SC: The themes of community, trust, and connection are key components in most of our shows, and I believe that circus is the most fitting form to demonstrate humanity’s interdependence. For one person to fly in the air, it takes two people to throw them and another two to catch them. At every moment, the performers are putting their lives quite literally in each other’s hands—trust is not a luxury, but the key to survival.

However, in the case of Duel Reality, the show starts with—dramatically speaking—the opposite message: a battle! But even through the battle we are subliminally messaging a larger point about interdependence through the simple mechanics of what we do. So, by the end of the show, we realize the antidote to the conflict is this notion of community, and we have actually been experiencing it all night long without realizing it.

I want audiences to walk away from this show feeling a little healed, with a little more faith in our connectivity and in what humans can do when they are willing to throw and catch each other.

See Shana and The 7 Fingers' work in action with Duel Reality, playing at Seattle Rep in the Bagley Wright Theater May 29–June 22, 2025.

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_{Pictured: Shana Carroll. Photo by Francisco Cruz; The cast of Duel Reality. Photos by Zemi Photography and Thomas Robert Clarke.}