romeo and juliet 1999 JC question

Romeo and Juliet

1.   Select a scene or episode from a play you have studied and explain how you would produce it. (JC, 1999)

The play I have studied is Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’. I think that if I were to make a production of a scene, I would choose the scene when Romeo kills Paris and finds Juliet in the tomb before killing herself and leading to Juliet also killing herself.

First I would tell the actor who plays Romeo to first act sad and angry when he first  goes to the tomb and fights Paris, but then after killing Paris he should just act very sad  and guilty when he opens the tomb and sees Juliet ‘dead’ (as she isn’t actually dead). I would also tell the actress who plays Juliet to act happy and rejoice when she wakes up because she sees the Friar and thinks Romeo is coming, but after the Friar telling her and her seeing Romeo dead, she should act very sad and suicidal. While the Friar and Paris should both act very guilty as they both think it was their fault that Juliet is dead, but Friar Lawrence should act desperate to get to Juliet in time and Paris should act very angry and savage when he’s fighting Romeo.

The setting will be the graveyard in Verona at midnight, the stage will be decorated very dimly and with gravestones all around and a large tomb at the side to be the tomb that Juliet and all the Capulets are buried. The props will be some tools like picks, shovels and crowbars for Friar Lawrence to bring to the graveyard when he enters the scene. And props like swords (for Romeo and Paris to fight with), a dagger (for Juliet to kill herself with), and a small bottle of poison (which will really be filled with water) for Romeo kill himself with.

The actors who play Romeo and Paris will be wearing everyday clothes that people in the 17^th century would wear. Juliet would be wearing a fine dress as this would be what she’s buried in and Friar Lawrence would be wearing a habit and a tonsure as he is a priest.