Production Notes for a Theatre Class - Essay Example

15 June Assignment As the director, I would like to choose the play Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare and provide it with my own spin through my interpretation in order to give something new to the audience. With the help of the existing play, I would like to make a few changes in the main theme of the plot and story in order to provide it with a twist and help the audience go back home with a lot more than just the story of two star crossed lovers. Romeo and Juliet is a very challenging play for any director to conceive and cast and finally depict through his own eyes; Shakespeare being one of the greatest playwrights in history, it would be tough to play with the theme of the play however, I would like to set the entire backdrop during the colonial period and portray the kind of capitalism and conquest that the rich bourgeoisie did during the time. The play is about a feud going on between two families, the Capulets and the Montagues. The reason for the brawl between the families is only because of a matter of differences that the two sides are subject to, however the reasons for that are not provided. Shakespeare wrote that whoever breaches the peace between the two families would be subject to death. Thus, through my eyes, I would like to depict the feud between the families as a result of wealth and conquests accumulated during the colonial period in British England. I would thus like to begin the play with a short prologue depicting how the Montagues and the Capulets had both established themselves as the wealthy families in Britain and England but had a shortcoming which can be depicted through the capitalist market economies and societies of the time. The families fought with each other in order to establish their supremacy over the other and boom with respect to their personal production. The ball that the Capulets hold is to celebrate their good harvests for the year and growth and development in the agricultural sector. It is a moment of celebration and victory over any other primary sector competitor that they have in the market, including the Montagues. The peace treaty decided between the two was on the basis of how they would not intrude upon each other’s lands or indulge in any form of unhealthy competition. Thus through this entire backdrop, one can easily see the plight of the wealthy farming sector in old England at the time, and how they were fighting to survive among each other even though these two main families held supremacy over the market. The Capulets want to marry their daughter off to another Count Paris in order to expand on their market establishments. Thus, all these instances are seen as methods of carrying out better business during the time. In Act one, when Romeo says, “Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn,” the dialogue is said in a symbiotic relation to the love that his family had for their fields and harvests, as well as for a more aesthetic form of love that people may share between each other. The fact that it pricks like a thorn can be symbolized with both the weeds that stem proper crops from growing and cause hardships, as well as when a girl says no or is not allowed to meet the man she wants to. Furthermore, when Friar Lawrence helps the couple Romeo and Juliet escape and get married, we can easily depict him to be one of the faithful farmer servants of the house of the Montagues. Thus, Romeo has all the means to support Juliet as they fall in love and want to live the rest of their lives with each other, but is forbidden from doing so because of the bittersweet relations that his family shares with hers. The main ending of this story shows that the two families have been able to unite because of the death of the two lovers. If they would have been able to sort out their differences while the two lived, they would have been able to expand their business together and make it reach greater heights. However, since everything was done for the love of money and wealth, the two lovers wanted to get out of the entire scene and just be happy with each other and whatever they had managed to collect and make of themselves during the course of their lives. “Where be these enemies? Capulet! Montague! See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate, that heaven finds means to kill your joys with love! And I, for winking at your discords too, have lost a brace of kinsmen: all are punishd.” The Prince says this in the third Act, Scene II. According to these lines, he tries to tell the audience how this fight between the two families turned out to poison their most prized possessions, and by losing out on them to death, the families have been punished thus they must learn to sort out their differences and be united and cordial with each other if they do not want things to get worse. Thus, this line will be used towards the end as the prince acting like a soothsayer and helping the families understand that society can only flourish if there is peace around the people and they learn to work with each other and help nurture the environment together. Since the two families’ main business was production and sale as well as merchandising of crops and food stuff, they should have learned to give back to nature what they had taken from it, in the form of peace and understanding. Also, during the depiction of the death of the lovers, one can also show a scene where they die next to each other on the soil of the earth, depicting their love for one another, as well as desire to be a part of each others’ families that had worked so hard to make that soil fertile and useful to the rest of the people. Through these various ideas, the plot can undergo a basic twist and help to depict the plight of the wealthy as well as poor farmers at the time in England. The choice of theatre and stage is very important for any play to be depicted in a proper and concise manner, as well as for the audience to enjoy themselves and the actors to be able to give their best. Thus, the stage required for this very play would need to be at least 25 ft in height and at least 40 ft in breadth. The lights and curtains attached on the top would take up at least 4 ft of space, thus leaving the actors with a full 20-21 ft of space for their work. Since most of the play is based on a primary sector economy and agricultural background, it would be nice to have a set that shows a number of flexes of the outside environment. The set can be converted into a small barn like area with fields on the outside, and of course stairs or a balcony like projection right in the middle. These stairs can be used during the ballroom scene for all the guests to pour in and some may even stand on them or dance trying to show a full house, as well as for the main love scene between Romeo and Juliet. If the budget is a little more, one can even go for a huge white screen as the background with a projector playing videos of the natural environment which can be shown outside a palatial home or room like structure. This area can be of use for most of the play as it takes place on the inside. Flexes can also help to show pictures from the environment outside. The balcony in the middle can be used as discussed above; and the rest of the stage can be converted into a living room sort of structure (palatial home) to act in the rest of the scenes. The set can thus be converted into a three way structure to show all the different scenes easily, and this would be easily possible with the breadth that there is. In order to fulfil its complete potential of production, this play needs to suit a few different moods from love to hatred. It needs to be able to depict emotions and feelings among people as well as love for things here and there easily so that the audience does not have a hard time understanding the theme of the play. Music and lighting thus become very essential in order to properly show these aspects. In the beginning, while explaining the prologue of the play, narration can be made from backstage with a few actors on stage working hard on the fields. The music at this time can be a soft composition by one of the musical greats, for example, Beethoven’s symphony could be used, and as the song reaches its climax, the two main wealthy capitalists can be shown as emerging victorious and handling a lot of land and farmers under them, trying to help the economy and also fight out the competition between each other. The lighting at the beginning may be soft red light which becomes yellow depicting day and night, and finally a hard light shining on the two Lords of the house of Montagues and Capulets. Further, the lighting can be proper when dialogues are being read out among the various people. During the ballroom scene, a beautiful romantic melody may emanate from the sound systems as Romeo and Juliet are able to catch each other’s eyes and fall in love. During this time as well, it would be good if a soft low light can shine on everyone else with two beams on Romeo and Juliet in order to emphasize on their characters. Heavy music, full of climax should be played during the fight between the two families as they find out about the lovers and Mercutio and Tybalt challenge Romeo to a duel. Vangelis’ Conquest of Paradise suits this mood and helps the audience understand the intensity of the situation. Similarly, a few compositions by Hans Zimmer may also be used as his music and composition style has excellent rhythm that would easily be a viable option for the purpose of this play. Casting is a very important aspect of this play as well. One must be able to choose the characters very wisely because this helps to change the entire look and feel of the play. Since they all come from a background of hard working families in the agricultural sector, the men would have to be well built and have good physiques. Romeo especially would have a strong body and a good voice that can be heard easily till the last seat in the theatre as well. Juliet on the other hand would be portrayed as a frail but strong woman because she needs to be able to voice her own opinions in front of her mother and nurse, if not the entire family. The other members of both the families should also have strong builds in appearance and be able to establish their dialogues well. A good strong and deep voice helps a great deal in trying to understand and establish the dialogues and help to get them across the audience well too. One scene that I would select presently would be Scene II, Act II, and entitled Capulet’s Orchard. As Romeo enters the scene and begins his monologue, Juliet appears onto the balcony. Soft music would be playing during this time with a soft lighting to depict the moonlight and the lovers and their soft feelings for each other. Romeo walks across the stage towards the balcony as he speaks “He jests at scars that never felt a wound.” Juliet appears at the mention of this dialogue, trying to absorb the night and her lover standing below. As Romeo continues, “But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief, That thou her maid art far more fair than she: Be not her maid, since she is envious; Her vestal livery is but sick and green And none but fools do wear it; cast it off. It is my lady, O, it is my love! O, that she knew she were! She speaks yet she says nothing: what of that? Her eye discourses; I will answer it. I am too bold, tis not to me she speaks: Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, Having some business, do entreat her eyes to twinkle in their spheres till they return.” During this dialogue Juliet needs to establish her presence on the stage by portraying through silence the frailty and emotions that she is made up of. As Romeo addresses the various parts of her life, the people in it, as well as her directly, she needs to blush and point at the various objects as he mentions them in order to depict drama. Finally, as Juliet answers her Romeo, she must be able to do it with poise and grace. As the beam of lighting shifts on to her, she starts speaking looking at moon in order to signify the kind of freedom that she wants in order to be able to decide her life for herself and not have her father map out her world for her. She wants to be liberated from the clutches of her family and marry the man she loves, Romeo, as she says, “O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And Ill no longer be a Capulet.” As Romeo reveals his identity to his lady love, he must be pacing the grounds beneath the balcony in order to show the kind of helpless situation he is stuck in. He is in love with a woman from the enemy family but wants to be with her nonetheless as Juliet understands his hlpessness and says softly while looking far down and trying to reach for her lover, “My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words of that tongues utterance, yet I know the sound: Art thou not Romeo and a Montague?” Furthermore, Romeo can use the stage and the balcony as he climbs on top of it with the help of the vines growing around it as he says, “Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear that tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops” In conclusion, as the director, I would like for the audience to go back with a satisfied and content mind that helps them understand not only the situation that the two lovers were caught in because of the dilemma that their love caused to each other, but also the reason for the same. I would like to audience to comprehend the kind of life that the families at the time lived and how, if they existed in the modern world, they would not be able to survive because of the unhealthy competition that in today’s world would be easily kept in check by governments. They must be thus able to take away a lot of thought from this very production in the form of contentment that people in society have with each other because of established peace, and how the same can upturn lives. They must be able to understand the crux of the matter – people are people and cannot refrain from feeling emotions of any kind. If people try to subdue their children for crimes they have committed or hatred that they have established, their children might end up suffering and paying for them, like how Romeo and Juliet ultimately died. Sets: Works Cited Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. New York: Amulet, 2007. Print. Read More