The Endless Love of Romeo and Juliet
By Caroline Fishbein
On Friday, September 1, 2017, the acting classes of Cheshire Academy went to go see “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare at Edgerton Park in New Haven, Connecticut. Directed by Rafael Massie, the role of Romeo was played by Steven Lee Johnson, and the role of Juliet was played by Courtney Jamison. Other roles include the nurse (guardian of Juliet), played by Gracy Brown, Romeo’s parents, Lord and Lady Montague, played by Andrew Borthwick-Leslie and Margaret Anne Murphy. Lastly Juliet’s parents, Lord and Lady Capulet, played by Mark Sage Hamilton and Samantha Dena Smith.
The play is a love story between Juliet, whose merchant parents want her to marry a rich boy named Paris. Meanwhile, she goes to a party with Paris, and finds Romeo there. Juliet and Romeo made eye contact from across the room and were about to dance, when Paris swooped in and started dancing with Juliet. Still, it was nearly love at first sight between Romeo and Juliet. While dancing with Paris, Juliet and Romeo couldn't take their eyes off each other. They fall madly in love. But they also find out that their parents are both merchants and that they are arch enemies. This issue is what the play revolves around. How love overcomes differences no matter the size.
This also leads to one of the many themes in the play. I think that the most important theme is love. How love always wins. The director shows during the play how Romeo and Juliet still fell in love even though their families have a violent history with each other. This theme of love is important because it is shown through Romeo and Juliet that people should set aside their differences and not have to be violent with one another over any kind of dispute. The director connects this to the real kworld by stating how hate and violence has most recently been the answer to a lot of issues. However, he wanted to show that we “are one humanity” (stated by director, Rafael Massie).
The theme is shown throughout the play, but especially towards the end. Juliet buys a poison to make her appear dead because she doesn't want to marry Paris, she wants to marry Romeo. She leaves a message for Romeo to meet her at her tomb, but the message never got to him. He hears word that Juliet is dead, goes to her tomb to find Paris there, who he kills out of anger. He then drank a deadly poison, and collapses dead as Juliet wakes up. Juliet, once realizing that he is dead, stabs herself. Both the Montague’s and the Capulet’s mourn over the loss of each of their loved ones. The families realize that all this happened because of their fighting. They decide once and for all that the fighting between the two families has to stop. This shows how love wins and is more important than any dispute.
Moving on, the director made many staging decisions to show importance. For example, one of Romeo’s friends, Mercutio, showed power by elevating himself. This shows power because he is above everyone. Also, the director made choices regarding costumes. All the royal families wore rich colors. The Capulet’s wore blue and gold, and Mercutio’s family wore a lot of green and gold. Gold shows wealthiness, and status, which is why these families wore different styles of gold. The villagers wore rag type clothing, and lots of red, yellow, and orange, which aren't wealthy colors. Rag type clothing also shows being of low status. It was also interesting to see the lighting. How the lighting effects the mood. When something happy was going on, the lights were bright yellow, or pink, or neon colors. They also used blue, green, gray lights during sad parts. The lights influences how the audience feels, which enhances the show.
I think that the type of clothing that the actors have on can show if they are similar. The wealthy families in this show wore similar style clothing. For example, the wealthy wore tight fitting tops, or flowing skirts, along with detailed designs in their clothes. The poorer people wore more rag style clothing, or loose fitting clothing. By the director doing this, we can tell what characters have similarities to other characters.
My favorite character in the show was probably the nurse. You could tell that this was supposed to be a funny role by how she acted. For example, she commanded the stage. By this, I mean how she was a big, bold, character who used her space to show humor. She also used funny facial expressions, to go along with her funny lines which made it even better. She also would be very loud. I remember in the beginning when she was talking to Juliet about the party and about Romeo, that she would be very loud and enthusiastic when she spoke her lines. This also came across as funny.
I really enjoyed this play, because it taught me a lot. It taught me how lighting really affects the mood that the audience gets. It taught me how people position themselves to show power or status. Lastly, it taught me how directors make so many choices, including clothing, colors, and sound, to make the production even better.
By Caroline Fishbein
On Friday, September 1, 2017, the acting classes of Cheshire Academy went to go see “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare at Edgerton Park in New Haven, Connecticut. Directed by Rafael Massie, the role of Romeo was played by Steven Lee Johnson, and the role of Juliet was played by Courtney Jamison. Other roles include the nurse (guardian of Juliet), played by Gracy Brown, Romeo’s parents, Lord and Lady Montague, played by Andrew Borthwick-Leslie and Margaret Anne Murphy. Lastly Juliet’s parents, Lord and Lady Capulet, played by Mark Sage Hamilton and Samantha Dena Smith.
The play is a love story between Juliet, whose merchant parents want her to marry a rich boy named Paris. Meanwhile, she goes to a party with Paris, and finds Romeo there. Juliet and Romeo made eye contact from across the room and were about to dance, when Paris swooped in and started dancing with Juliet. Still, it was nearly love at first sight between Romeo and Juliet. While dancing with Paris, Juliet and Romeo couldn't take their eyes off each other. They fall madly in love. But they also find out that their parents are both merchants and that they are arch enemies. This issue is what the play revolves around. How love overcomes differences no matter the size.
This also leads to one of the many themes in the play. I think that the most important theme is love. How love always wins. The director shows during the play how Romeo and Juliet still fell in love even though their families have a violent history with each other. This theme of love is important because it is shown through Romeo and Juliet that people should set aside their differences and not have to be violent with one another over any kind of dispute. The director connects this to the real kworld by stating how hate and violence has most recently been the answer to a lot of issues. However, he wanted to show that we “are one humanity” (stated by director, Rafael Massie).
The theme is shown throughout the play, but especially towards the end. Juliet buys a poison to make her appear dead because she doesn't want to marry Paris, she wants to marry Romeo. She leaves a message for Romeo to meet her at her tomb, but the message never got to him. He hears word that Juliet is dead, goes to her tomb to find Paris there, who he kills out of anger. He then drank a deadly poison, and collapses dead as Juliet wakes up. Juliet, once realizing that he is dead, stabs herself. Both the Montague’s and the Capulet’s mourn over the loss of each of their loved ones. The families realize that all this happened because of their fighting. They decide once and for all that the fighting between the two families has to stop. This shows how love wins and is more important than any dispute.
Moving on, the director made many staging decisions to show importance. For example, one of Romeo’s friends, Mercutio, showed power by elevating himself. This shows power because he is above everyone. Also, the director made choices regarding costumes. All the royal families wore rich colors. The Capulet’s wore blue and gold, and Mercutio’s family wore a lot of green and gold. Gold shows wealthiness, and status, which is why these families wore different styles of gold. The villagers wore rag type clothing, and lots of red, yellow, and orange, which aren't wealthy colors. Rag type clothing also shows being of low status. It was also interesting to see the lighting. How the lighting effects the mood. When something happy was going on, the lights were bright yellow, or pink, or neon colors. They also used blue, green, gray lights during sad parts. The lights influences how the audience feels, which enhances the show.
I think that the type of clothing that the actors have on can show if they are similar. The wealthy families in this show wore similar style clothing. For example, the wealthy wore tight fitting tops, or flowing skirts, along with detailed designs in their clothes. The poorer people wore more rag style clothing, or loose fitting clothing. By the director doing this, we can tell what characters have similarities to other characters.
My favorite character in the show was probably the nurse. You could tell that this was supposed to be a funny role by how she acted. For example, she commanded the stage. By this, I mean how she was a big, bold, character who used her space to show humor. She also used funny facial expressions, to go along with her funny lines which made it even better. She also would be very loud. I remember in the beginning when she was talking to Juliet about the party and about Romeo, that she would be very loud and enthusiastic when she spoke her lines. This also came across as funny.
I really enjoyed this play, because it taught me a lot. It taught me how lighting really affects the mood that the audience gets. It taught me how people position themselves to show power or status. Lastly, it taught me how directors make so many choices, including clothing, colors, and sound, to make the production even better.
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