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.