First day:

At the beginning, we had a short conversation discuss about which role should I play. My first choice was Juliet,but when I look at the scripts I changed my mind. As a actor, one thing that has to keep in mind is always remember your scripts, you cannot say “I forget what I gonnna say” during the performanc. So the main goal for the first day is to remember the first part ( we decided the parts that seperated into three parts) scripts. That was really hard for me, especailly there are some weried pronunciations like “wherefore art thou Romeo” or “I take thee at thy word.” Thanks for helping me,my good partener translated into mordern language for me. That helped me to remember scripts easily. And one way to I figured out is in this scene that Romeo’s only goal is to spend time with Juliet. So,he must be very excited when he hears Juliet sound. When I think about this, I would know scripts. At first day,I could not remember scripts detaily, but I could know what should I talk about next.

Second day:

After one day, I already knew all the scripts. We just practiced. Our purpose is to get more famailar with those scripts. However this time,I was being more emotional. I read scipts slowly and let audience can hear clearly. Anyway we kind of like reviewed what we did yesterday.

Also,one more thing to add. I looked around how others doing their scene, I found out some of them using props. I thought that is a good idea, because sometimes I feel awkward when I do not know where I should put my hands. If I have a prop,at least I can hold something. And I believe that is usually how professional actors do.

Third day:

For the previous two days,we worked on scripts. Today, we designed blocking issues. After we had a conversation,we made an agreement. At the beginning of the scene, we stand in the opposite place. And as we say one paragraph, we move one step. And At the end, we are going to meet. That shows a process of Romeo and Juliet fell in love. However,we feel only feet moves is not enough, thus we decided to add more layers for example face expression ad arm moves. All these movements are for enhancing the role’s personailty.

I like constantin stanislavski'theory a lot. He taught actors it is not necessary to exaggerate in a play because sometimes it can only makes unreal. He propose actors should act normally and naturally.
From the scene I play, I try to act or speak normally. I feel if I put so much attitude to it, audiences will think the original Romeo is not that radical. We've already practiced the blocking part, but I don't think that is perfect. We lack some layers. Me and my partner only have a general idea that Romeo and Juliet stand in opposite place, and as they say their scripts, they move closer. However, when we really doing that, I feel a little awkward that we are like Roberts that only feet move. So why not add some face expression, for example when Romeo saying "oh she speaks,speak again bright angel. I could show a face like love Juliet so much,eager to hear her voice.

I am going to play the Act 2 Scene 2. Generaly we call this balcony scene. It shows when after the party, Romeo came to find Juliet and he expressed love to Juliet. And Juliet responsed to Romeo as well. That is the first time they build their relationships as lovers. So when we performing this scene, it is important to show at first Romeo has to be a little nervous that what if Juliet rejects him, also for Juliet she has to be a little shy too. However the middle part has a big change when they already fell in love, they felt more free. Then each one’s attitude will change, they should be both happy for having each other. They feel the sweatness of love. Therefore, for expressing their moods,it is a good idea to show very differently between before and after. For example, when Romeo first having conversation with Juliet under balcony, Romeo’s voice can be gentle and quiet. However,when they decide to date, Romeo cannot wait to see Juliet the next time. Especially Romeo is a young teenagers, and that is his first time feeling love. He can show an attitude that he does not want to say goodbye to Juliet so quickly,but also he looks forward to the next date.

This is not a short scene, it includes many clues of what personailty does Romeo and Juliet has. Romeo and Juliet are both brave, they don’t afraid of showing love. They could even against their famaily to stay with each other. Like what I said in the previous paragraph, the major word in this scene is hope. They hope they will have a bright future, they want to fight for their tomorrow. Love is powerful,it makes people are brave enough to meet any problems. In my opinion, Romeo and Juliet theme is this. So when we performing this scene, we have to show audience a postive attitude. We can add some motion to strengthen what we try to present---hope. There are so many movements we can do, such as running hurry, walk around to consider is it a smart choice to talk to Juliet under balcony.

Since that is the first time they get attached, most of the audience know their characteristics from here. The point is during the play we can not make directly tell audience what they are like because it is just too unprofessional. We are going to step by step tells what they are like. Moreover I will catch any chances to show “hope” in the play. For me that is the keyword, all the thing is around this word.

The scene I am going to play is the balcony scene. This is the first scene that has to recite long scripts, whcih is difference from before. And I sum up two general ideas that how to play this scene.

For costume, we do not have to really dress up like Romeo and Juliet, we can just dress up what teen wear. Just being normal or else audiences will probably feel odd. I want only scripts based on original play. Because this is a balcony scene,Juliet need to stand on something higher than the ground. A simple stepladder works.

Anthor thing is actors face expression and movement. These are important. Audiences can better understand the scene from the face expression. In this scene, Romeo and Juliet should be eager to get each other, Therefore,it should seemed to look forward to something. Movement’s function, basicly makes audiences think play is beliveble because try to imagine when nobody moves on the stage, it only has a conversation. That is too fake, that is impossible to happen in real life.

He is an Russian actor, director.
Father of modern play.

He wrote a famous book called An Actor Prepares.
There are two parts of this book. However, he could not finished in his lifetime, also the first part is delayed because of world war.

In his theory, he insists actors should be soak the self into the play, which means actors have to make the play more believable.

Romeo:
“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


Juliet:
Ay me!

Romeo:
She speaks! O, speak again, bright angel

Juliet:
“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 I’ll no longer be a Capulet”
O, be some other name!


Romeo:
“I take thee at thy word.
Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptiz’d;
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

Juliet:
“What man art thou that thus bescreen’d in night
So stumblest on my counsel?

Romeo:
“By a name
I know not how to tell thee who I am.
My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,
Because it is an enemy to thee”


Juliet:
“I know the sound.
Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?
”
Romeo:
Neither, fair maid, if either thee dislike
“With love’s light wings did I o’erperch these walls,
For stony limits cannot hold love out,
And what love can do, that dares love attempt;
Therefore thy kinsmen are no stop to me.

Juliet:
If they do see thee, they will murder thee

Romeo:
I have night’s cloak to hide me from their eyes,
And but thou love me, let them find me here;
”
Juliet:
“O gentle Romeo,
If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully;
Or if thou thinkest I am too quickly won,
I’ll frown and be perverse, and say thee nay,
So thou wilt woo, but else not for the world.
I must confess,
But that thou overheardst, ere I was ware,
My true-love passion; therefore pardon me,
And not impute this yielding to light love,
Which the dark night hath so discovered.”


Romeo:
“Lady, by yonder blessed moon I vow,
That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops—


Juliet:
“O, swear not by the moon, th’ inconstant moon,
That monthly changes in her circled orb,
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.”


Romeo:
What shall I swear by?

Juliet:
Do not swear at all, and I’ll believe thee.

Romeo:
O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?

Juliet:
What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?

Romeo:
I gave thee mine before thou didst request it

Juliet:
“Wouldst thou withdraw it? For what purpose, love?
“My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite”
“Three words, dear Romeo, and good night indeed.
If that thy bent of love be honorable,
Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow,
By one that I’ll procure to come to thee,
“Parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow”



Romeo:

“Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast!
Would I were sleep and peace, so sweet to rest!
Hence will I to my ghostly friar’s close cell,
His help to crave, and my dear hap to tell”

quiz

A:  Juliet is like a just borned bird that did not know what is love, and then she met Romeo who is her favorite that no matter how hard they stay together. In my opinion,Juliet was getting more and more brave to chace love from Act1 to Act2. I remember in the balcony scene.when Romeo spoke to Juliet that let her go down, Juliet was afraid that his voice was going to cause their famaily come. She shows an attitude that they could date secretly but it almost impossible to tell their parents they were going to marry. She tried to hide they fell in love because she was afraid of his father or we can say she cared more about his famaily. However,as she spent more time with Romeo,their love became more powerful that made Juliet did something against his father’s idea. For example pretend to die for avoiding marriage and married with Romeo secretly. For Romeo, he just kept himselfs like the beginning. Because he didn’t get too much force from his famaily,which means his opinion or status in his famaily is more important than Juliet in her famaily. That is the gender difference in Romeo and Juliet this literature.

C: From my standpoint, their deaths are worth. Some people might say it is obviously a huge tragedy that they both died. However I think their two lives died all the people in this city get peace. That is kind of a good deal. Why we think it is unfair or not worth because we view them as the main roles,but it is undeniable there are many people in this city. So there are lots of people benifit from their death.


F:  Juliet is a cute and lively girl in this film,which is same with the original play. However,I remember when she shows up,she is putting her header in water. It seemed that she was thinking about something. Thus,this is little bit different from original that Juliet is not a fully simple girl. She has her own mind,she knows how to think. When I was reading the original play, I thought Juliet is around 14 years old, she does not know how to show love. Film just changes, there are certain scenes that Romeo and Juliet are cuddleing or kissing,and Juliet is like “easy to handle all of these”. For example in balcony scene and one scene they are on bed. Therefore, juliet general characteristic like lively does not change in the film,but film just design Juliet is more mature than the original play.

First of all, Baz Lurhmann version of Romeo and Juliet is more moderlized than the original one. In especial stage property has changed a lot in this film , for example instead of using sword to fight, people use guns to fight. Moreover,costumes are more colorful,which is very close to nowdays fashion. Director wanted to show the differences between two famails,so he decided to use two types of cloth. For Romeo famaily, their clothes are more like a style of Hawii. And Juliet’s famaily has a style of mafia, most of them wear suits. However,the difference in original play is not very visiable,it only tells they are enmey.

Second, Except the apperence, events in film happened in a tight time,which means it happened really fast. In the last two act, it only takes 20 minutes to tell (From Juliet gets a fake posion to they both died). I also find out in this film, it uses many skills that is fast scene, which just basiclly tells what happened, for example when Juliet mom tried to persuade Juliet to marry with Paris, it is going really quick. In my opinion,there are two reasons why director did that. First,it could be his own bias, he thought that is not important so he did not want to put more works there. Second, his main purpose is expressing his idea of Romeo and Juliet, to some extent,he doesn’t like the ending is sad, so he skiped some plots, he hopes he can show a ending that is not very tragic.

In addition, this film has another feeling when I am watching. Like what I said in previous, director changed some plots because he would like to add some comic stuffs in it. However, he brings fully sadness to audiences. In the scene that Romeo drinks the posion and at the same time Juliet wakes up. I feel extremely shame and pity for them.

                  The play of Romeo and Juliet

A good literature must follow a pattern that leads a whole play make senses. And this pattern includes many things, such as settings, musics/sounds,climax and time. Romeo and Juliet is a classical example, which basically tells a miserable story. The story embroidered on Romeo and Juliet and reflect many conflicts. And the general time line is from Romeo and Juliet first see each other, and then they fell in love and they met so many problems that given by their hostile famailes,ultimately they died in love.

In this play, the major conflict is between Romeo,juliet and their families. In my opinion, I supporte their families trying to stop their love for two reasons. First, it shows clearly on the timeline that Romeo and Juliet just meet first time and then fall in love, this love is just too hury. readers will easily think that they love each other’s appearence but not soul. Second, it will be very boring if delete this conflict. This story is about great love,so it is necessary to give them some difficulties. Hence it shows nothing can bother people who are in love. Also, conflict developed plot pretty much, for example when they thinking of an idea that can avoid the wedding.

There is another interesting character in the play called Firiar Lawrence who seem to be out of the pattern. Because it is hard to figure he is bad or not. He is like a problem solver, he came up so many ideas to help Romeo and Juliet, but we don’t know what is his purpose. He might hides something, he might has his own desire. He is a mystery character in the play. My expression of him is not good, oppositily I think he indirectly caused the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Therefore he can be one of the conflicts or a problem that Romeo and Juliet have to overcome.

Play is not a simple literature because it includes not only languages,but sounds and Images. Souds and Images’s functions are mostly for explaining. For instance “It was the lark,the herald of the morn,no nightingale.” suggests it is morning now. Of course-during the play, there should be a part of lark’s sing.

Climax is the mosting excited part of the play, it decides what kind of result is going to be. For Romeo and Juliet,between Juliet fake death and die for love is the climax. It tells they will not have a happy ending. Moreover, climax is also for telling theme, which is nothing can stop the true love, people are brave when they fall in love because they deeply know they are not alone. However the love that is not blessed by people is doomed to be costly whether soul or life. It is just like Romeo and Juliet, they died for love. To some extent, they are successful, they go to other place to love to stay forever.

These three factors make a good play. Always remember play is not a simple literature, play has many famaily members follow as one pattern, which are conflicts,musics and climaxs.