Where For Art Thou?

Romeo and Juliet is one of the best known works of art of all time. It has been produce countless time in every fashion imaginable. The reason I chose this play for the blog assignment is to help bring understanding of certain aspects of the show to the production that I am acting as dramaturg for. One of the bigger things would be how these characters should be played. There have been a lot of complaints about Romeo and Juliet. People have called them naive, immature, and reckless. Also that they're overall flat characters. One motivation. Some scholars would disagree. Shakespeare wrote his characters to be well rounded and interesting. Brockett says, "Despite the enormous range of his characters, Shakespeare entered into most of them sympathetically and made them appear to be living individuals rather than mere stage figures. His penetrating insights into human behavior have remained compelling." (P. 109-110) Here, Brockett lifts up Shakespeare's work as if it were gold. It also shows the respect he has for the characters Shakespeare wrote.

Brockett, Oscar, and Franklin Hildy. History of the Theatre. Foundation Edition. Pearson Education, Inc., 2007. 109-110. Print.

Capulets Vs. Montegues

The driving force of conflict in Romeo and Juliet is the bad blood between the Capulets and the Montegues. The beauty of this conflict is that it's never truly explained. Is it political? Family rivalry? Did Mr. Capulet accidentally build over the Montegue property line? What exactly is going on? I think that leaving the conflict unexplained is one of the reasons that the feud is so relatable. This is why I think that conveying the feud on stage would be best if there were no other implications other than sheer hate. This video helps describe the feud for people who don't understand. (Note: the beginning is just a joke. The rest is a great explanation for the simple minded.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl5L4oGCYkg&playnext=1&list=PL357BA8028F5F144B

Song Adaptations

This is a song by The Killers called "Romeo and Juliet." The song tells the story of two young lovers who, instead of meeting a tragic end with death, break up due to some uncontrollable circumstances. To me, this song shows how the songwriter understood the underlying themes in Romeo and Juliet. In order for him to write this song, he studied the play and what it's really about. A chain of events that leads to the demise of a relationship involving young love. Young people who fall in love for the first time will do anything to hold on to that love. And it always seems to be that one person hold on harder. Here, the boy, who calls himself Romeo, is still in love with Juliet who seemingly ended the relationship. Romeo claims that "the dice was loaded from the start," meaning that they never stood a chance due to the timing and other circumstances.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87cLyBR1JTo

Costume Choices

Mercutio, being my favorite character in the show, is an obvious choice for ideal costume ideas. This was a designer's initial idea for Mercutio's costume. Being a jokester, the outfit is colorful and light and flamboyant. Also, in order to transform him into his darker scenes, if he were to throw off his hat and jacket, the yellow pants and purple shirt would be really ideal for throwing color onto in order to manipulate his appearance with light.

http://peevsie77.deviantart.com/art/Mercutio-Costume-Design-133289671

Star Crossed/Criss Crossed Lovers

Both Romeo and Juliet are characters that can be played in many different ways. The way in which they are played is entirely left up to interpretation. Are they immature? Are they wise for their age? Are they truly so struck dumb with love that nothing else matters to them? The beauty of theatre is that each and every production is different. Sure the words might be the same, but it's impossible to 100% re-create another show that has already occurred. This of course leads to people performing it traditionally, or in a more modern sense. In her article, Jennifer L. Martin compares two productions of Romeo and Juliet. She says, "Zeffirelli's film casts two very young and virtually unknown actors, Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey in the roles of Romeo and Juliet. The director's vision of adolescent love is one of immediacy and immaturity. The young lovers, particularly Romeo, act impulsively and are naive pawns in a deterministic world..." "...Luhrmann's interpretation of Shakespeare's text, on the other hand, pays homage not only to the primary source, but also to filmic versions that came before. However, Luhrmann's depiction of the two young lovers, Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, marks a definitive departure from Zeffirelli's in that his two lovers are more grounded and reflective and show more inner maturity and strength of character..." This demonstrates two different directors making completely different approaches to how Romeo and Juliet are portrayed in their own productions.

Martin, Jennifer L. "Tights vs. Tattoos: Filmic Interpretations of "Romeo and Juliet"." English Journal. 92.1 (2002): 41. Print.

Nurse

The nurse is often blamed for the final tragedy in Romeo and Juliet. When she allows Romeo and Juliet to sleep together, knowing that Romeo has killed Tybalt, she is knowingly throwing any chance of Juliet's redemption away. A good question that is raised by these events: Why? The nurse is supposed to be the one making sure that Juliet remains pure, and instead she allows Juliet to fulfill her teenage fantasy and spend the night with Romeo. The answer is simple, the Nurse is a free spirited romantic at heart.

This picture depicts a Nurse that was played by a man. (The entire cast was male.) Looking at this picture, the Nurse is clearly laughing and enjoying the conversation she's having with Juliet. This represents how the Nurse should be played. Her concern for Juliet is strong, but once she sees the love she has for Romeo, and the love he has for her, the Nurse can do nothing but let them bask in their love.

Mercutio

Mercutio

Here is a picture of Mercutio from the 1994 production of Romeo + Juliet. Mercutio has kind of been deciphered as a woman hater, but here he takes the form of a cross dresser and possibly a homosexual in a modern interpretation of Romeo and Juliet. Mercutio is the only character in the play who is truly complex and difficult to understand. His "Queen Mab" speech is among one of the most debated pieces of work Shakespeare has ever created. A lot of people think it's funny, personally, I find it to be dark and shows a truly conflicted side of Mercutio. Honestly, he is the most tragic character of the play. His life is sacrificed because of his best friends quarrel.

Source:

http://youwantmetowearwhat.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/RJ-Mercutio.jpg

Tackling Iambic Pentameter

All plays have a language in which they are initially intended to be performed in. Whether it's with dialects, slang, or body language, all shows are diverse in this sense. Shakespeare wrote his plays in a more poetic fashion, though. Iambic pentameter is "Five pairs of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables. The rhythm in each line sounds like: ba-BUM / ba-BUM / ba-BUM / ba-BUM / ba-BUM." This may look simple but many actors struggle with mastering Iambic Pentameter. Without proper training and constant practice, a show could end up being performed terribly because the language in which it's meant to be performed is butchered.

Jamieson, Lee. "Introducing Iambic Pentameter." About.com n. pag. Web. 9 Mar 2011. .

Tragedy of Errors

It's most commonly understood that Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy. The problem with this is that people most often thing that the characters themselves are tragic when, instead, it is the chain of events that make up the tragedy. Both Romeo and Juliet are simple characters. Teenagers who fall in love. The only problem is the hate between their families. Every event that occurs in Romeo and Juliet is so specific that it must be accidental. Ruth Nevo says in her article, "The plot of Romeo and Juliet stresses the accidental. The fortuitous meeting of Romeo and Benvolio with Capulet's illiterate messenger bearing the invitations he cannot decipher, the chance encounter between Romeo and Tybalt at a most unpropitious moment, the outbreak of the plague which quarantines Friar John, the meeting of Romeo and Paris at the Capulet tomb are instance which come at once to mind. Shakespeare, so far from mitigating the effect of unfortunate coincidence is evidently concerned to draw our attention to it. Bad luck, misfortune, sheer inexplicable contingency is a far from negligible source of the suffering and calamity in human life which is the subject of tragedy's mimesis..."

Nevo makes a valid point in that the chain of events that occur between these two families is where the real tragedy lies. For example, if Romeo and Benvolio had never gotten ahold of those invitations, the entire play would have never happened. When producing this play, it must be taken into account that the characters are not tragic, but their lives become a tragedy in these events.

Nevo, Ruth. "Tragic Form in Romeo and Juliet." Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. 9.2 (1969): 241.

Life in the Globe Theatre

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJufDeoLK1o&playnext=1&list=PL357BA8028F5F144B

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=872KtSfjd48&feature=related

In these two videos, a man takes his students and helps them to create their own Globe Theatre atmosphere. Differentiating between the rich and the poor, he asks his students to embody them through different imagining exercises. Kieron takes the approach of making Shakespeare entertaining to his students instead of boring or tough to understand. He spends his time doing these workshops and helping students to understand it by making it approachable and enjoyable. This would be a fantastic sort of exercise to begin rehearsals with and be able to build upon.