Act 4: AT DOUBLE SPEED

On to Act 4-  shorter as was going to write ACT 5 tonight too... but you know what? Act 5 is just going to have to wait until my blissful week away from my computer aka LOVEFEST 2012 part 2. aka you can look for it next Sunday night and then i'll be back on my regularly scheduled timeline...

OK, 4.1

The act opens with Paris visiting Fr. Lawrence. Paris is already calling Capulet his father and explains he would have wooed Juliet more but "Venus smiles not in a house of tears."

Teaching moment: Dramatic irony- the audience is on the friar's dilemma but Paris is clueless. why is this important to focus on? because dear god we need some sort of humor right about now. I think that's why Shakespeare gives us this golden rhyming exchange:

PAR.

Happily met, my lady and my wife!

JUL.

That may be, sir, when I may be a wife.

PAR.

That may be must be, love, on Thursday next.

JUL.

What must be shall be.

FRI. L.

That’s a certain text.

Another reason i love the Friar- he screws up. Not only does he not suggest Juliet FOLLOW ROMEO TO MANTUA, you can tell that he is scared and fallible and does not want to admit that he married these two young people without any parental knowledge or consent.

Ok I promised a speedy post so on to the next scene:

4.2

Continuation oddity- last act Capulet said they would invite very few to the wedding on account of their mourning for Tybalt. NOW  he's hiring twenty cunning cooks! What happened? This is also a very strange comedic exchange between Cap. and the servants. Then Juliet comes back with the Friar's sleeping potion plan in place and pretending to be very contrite and open to marrying Paris. And I think if your Capulet can somehow win the audience back, even a little bit after threatening to banish Juliet, then this line is incredibly heartbreaking: "my heart is wondrous light, since this same wayward girl is so reclaim'd" Poor dad. too bad you daughters going to die in the next 24 hours. and you're going to have to go through that TWICE. ooops. spoiler alert. (how does one spoiler alert one's entire blog?)

4.3

 Juliet sends her nurse and her mother away. The fact that she almost calls back the nurse kills me. 

Teaching moment: where to take the pause in the short line in Juliet's soliloquy . 

ah yes another fantastic Juliet soliloquy.  and i love how DARK and terrifying this is. 

O, if I wake, shall I not be distraught,

Environed with all these hideous fears, 

And madly play with my forefathers' joints

And pluck the mangled Tybalt from his shroud

CREEPTASTIC. and then she sees Tybalt's ghost. also creeptastic.  and her taking the potion is the end of the scene.

4.4

a very short scene and one that is often cut. The capulets and the nurse and some serving people run around preparing for the wedding and making awkward jokes. all I can think of as far as not cutting this scene is that the JOY for the anticipated wedding helps you feel much more crushed in the next scene...

4.5

I think you all know by now that the nurse discovering Juliet's death breaks my freaking heart. but i had to laugh a bit at how long it takes her to figure it out ONLY because it reminded me so much of The Maids Tragedy and the servingmen with the king...

this scene is a beast and if I were a director I think it would scare me. it is so strange because one by one the woes and mourning builds to chaos (a highlight for me: "MY SOUL AND NOT MY CHILD" says Capulet. SO GOOD." Then Friar lawrence quiets them all down while trying not to give his hand away in this whole plot, Capulet grieves some more with lovely poetry, and then everyone but the musicians leave- the musicians have this awkward word play with Peter, peter sings a song, and the scene ends with one of the musicians saying "Come, we'll in here, tarry for the mourners, and stay dinner" whaaaat?! No wonder people cut this. but i'm so intrigued to see a production that keeps it in and how audiences react.

 

OK, to make up for my being gone for a while and in honor of Girl Meet World being announced this week... here's two boy meets world clips having to do with R&J, in the first clip you can skip to 2:30 and listen to Feeney's wisdom on this play... in the second clip Eric gets his big break accidentally playing Romeo. ENJOY!

 

 

 

 

 

Bam. done. off to pack. because if my man were ever banished, i'd want to pack up and follow him. not take some sketchy sleeping death potion.

R&J Act 3: Why I'm obsessed wtih Juliet's Soliloquy

3.1
This act opens with Benvolio and Mercutio talking/joking about quarreling and speak of the devil- in comes Tybalt.

A line that particularly struck me is that of Mercutio:

"What, dost thou make us minstrels? And thou make minstrels of us, look to hear nothing but discords..." 

yikes... I don't really have a comment other than I don't think that line registered with me before as in performance my ear always goes to the next bit about his fiddlestick...

Romeo enters and tries to play nice since he's related to Tybalt now, even with Tybalt saying he is a villain and that he hates him- I'm interested if Tybalt is really just a hot head or if there is some specific injury Romeo has done to him personally aside from just being a Montague? I am so intrigued that we don't really know what this quarrel is about or why it keeps resurfacing.

One of the clear examples of Shakespeare's genius: Romeo is trying to keep peace, Tybalt seems to have the embedded stage direction of actually walking away, and Mercutio eggs him on to fight again even while romeo and Benvolio try to stop it- yet somehow Romeo ends up with the blame of his death and we go with Mercutio on this because damn it for all his misogyny and dirty jokes and jerk-ness (or perhaps because of that) we love the guy and we're pissed he's dying. and the fact that he makes jokes about being a "grave man" while dying just makes it worse!

OH- maybe this is why I'm ok with being mad at Romeo, his friend is dying and what does he say?

"O sweet Juliet, They beauty hath made me effeminate" REALLY?! ugh...

Can anyone tell me why the hell Tybalt comes back again after he's slain Mercutio? I know, i know there's lots of answers to this question but any favorite? Because all my theories still don't hold enough weight to have it really make more sense than generality. And Romeo Kills Tybalt- but really, even if he didn't this play was going to get dark- (what would be the point of How I Met Your Mother if Barney died?!?) 

So suddenly out of NOWHERE everyone is in the streets and immediately knows there's been a fight- where they were before I don't know. If Mercutio was still alive he'd probably make a fantastic joke about this but he is DEAD so we have a bunch of actors who have to figure out how to make their entrances urgent enough that the audience will never question the theatrical magic of them appearing out of nowhere. and they enter rhyming none the less...

VOICE AND SPEECH exercise: Lady Cap has 5 O!s in 5 lines. the  versatility of the O in Shakespeare and the specificity an actor can give each one is an incredible exercise.

On top of all the Os, I find it fascinating that Lady Capulet is the main agitator in this scene instead of her husband. I think Lady C is one of the hardest roles in this show. She is not onstage that much but almost every time she is there is some extreme state or situation with little to no wind up to get there. 

The prince makes everyone STFU by proclaiming he "will be deaf to pleading and excuses" and then banishes Romeo on pain of death.

3.2

OK, never you mind what i said about Shakespeare showing his genius before. It is nothing compared to the prince's somber judgement being followed directly by a most hopeful, beautiful, perfect soliloquy. And luckily my Shakespeare app (yes, full disclosure, that is what I've been using to read back through so i can do it piecemeal between time at coffee shops, on lunch breaks and at home. Unless I have an interest in a specific line or passage- then i go compare and contrast with other editions) has the long version of Juliet's speech in all its glory. Let's break it down:

The speech starts with a bang- a trochaic foot for you scansion nerds, but also with an inherent urgency and drive as she asks the sun to hurry up and set already!

Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,
Towards Phoebus' lodging: such a wagoner
As Phaethon would whip you to the west,
And bring in cloudy night immediately.

Voice and speech moment: one of my favorite Linklater exercises is working with “w”. Not only does this letter force your mouth to make the shape of a kiss, it has the effect on my voice of making me feel incredibly vulnerable. (The Linklater exercise has actors ask “will you wait?” This is not to say that every one of the W words should be emphasized but it is certainly something for the actor to be aware of and play with. So I’m going to just keep bolding some them throughout the speech. I also think that actors can gain so much mileage out of the line ending here- the anticipation of what will happen if the sunlight is whipped to the west :breathe: night will come at last!

And now we get into deliciously sensual language that I wish I could even have been comfortable saying as a 13 year old- starting with the first thing she tells the night to do:
Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night,
That runaway's eyes may wink and Romeo
Leap to these arms, untalk'd of and unseen.
Lovers can see to do their amorous rites
By their own beauties; or, if love be blind,
It best agrees with night.

OK, first- this girl is just as excited to have sex as Romeo is. And I love that. And she is really thinking through the details of what its going to be like- she is not some wilting flower blushing virgin.

Second- if you’re reading this blog and you’re related to me ignore the next sentence- I am totally going to get Dan on board to start calling sex “our amorous rites”

But back to the text…

                              Come, civil night,
Thou sober-suited matron, all in black,
And learn me how to lose a winning match,
Play'd for a pair of stainless maidenhoods:
Hood my unmann'd blood, bating in my cheeks,
With thy black mantle; till strange love, grown bold,
Think true love acted simple modesty.

I love this section because it does show some trepidation- that she needs to be taught and she’s not sure how its all going to go, that night is a bit intimidating anthropomorphized as a sober-suited matron, that she needs night to hide her blushing and that she needs a few lines with the harsh sound of the letter B to rally courage before returning to the sensual land of vowels and “w” and “m” and “s” sounds. And I absolutely love the description “true love acted simple modesty” and then we get into the incantation-like repetitive calling- there’s also something incredibly sexual and primitive with all the “uh” and “oh” vowels

Come, night; come, Romeo; come, thou day in night;
For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night
Whiter than new snow on a raven's back.
Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow'd night,
Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,

(now is a good time to point out that die in early modern times often punned on the idea that orgasms were a “little death”)
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.

DEAR GOD THIS SPEECH IS SO WONDERFUL! Shakespeare is sexy. That is all. Except it is not because Juliet snaps out of her night imagining and comes back to the present which is anticipation. Her next description hits me triple at this moment in life. I think I thought of this passage every week of my engagement wishing I was just married already. I am thinking this passage every day right now in anticipation of our honeymoon plans. And the idea of buying a mansion but not possessing it I literally think of every day at work since I’m working for a mortgage company right now and am beginning to understand how antsy that makes people. Finally, ironically enough, the lines starting with “So tedious is this day” through “may not wear them” were used as my facebook status the day before Dan got to Arizona winter of 2010- just days before he would propose.

O, I have bought the mansion of a love,
But not possess'd it, and, though I am sold,
Not yet enjoy'd: so tedious is this day
As is the night before some festival
To an impatient child that hath new robes
And may not wear them.

And in the midst of all this anticipation in walks the bearer of bad news:

  

                            O, here comes my nurse,
And she brings news; and every tongue that speaks
But Romeo's name speaks heavenly eloquence.

And of course she is not going to enter with news of heavenly eloquence but with tidings of death. The incredible 180 just kills me. and Juliet's next lines are noticing that the Nurse has entered with the cords (ladder) for Romeo to use to climb into Juliet's room that night. Remember when I told you we'd get back to that? here we are... the Nurse throws the cords down as she says "He's gone, he's kill'd he's dead!" which of course Juliet takes to mean Romeo and the Nurse has no sense of this misunderstanding for quite a few lines until she finally clears up that Romeo killed Tybalt and is now banished.

The exchanges in this scene are full of rehtorical devices that could fill plenty of lessons for English teachers and actors alike.

Juliet gets another epic speech but since I spent so much time and space on the opening speech I will wait until i'm teaching or acting or directing to really break this one down, but if you want a really great monologue the "shall I speak ill of him that is my husband" is fantastic. There are so many turns and such an urgency. So many discoveries at line endings. so we'll just skip to what the line that reminds me of Hamlet:

that one word banished

hath slain ten thousand Tybalts...

...

"romeo is banished"' to speak that word

is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,

All slain, all dead"

Doesn't that remind you of Hamlet's proclamation that he loved Ophelia more than forty thousand brothers?

But poetry aside, will SOMEONE tell me why the hell Juliet doesn't just leave her homeland with Romeo and they can live poor and in love in a new land?? I know they are young but come on- its still a better option than the DEATH the two of them keep looking for?

Anyway Juliet decides that death can come via the rope ladder Romeo was to use. At least, thanks to my dear husband, I believe that is what the embedded stage direction is telling us pretty clearly and if Juliet is actively trying to strangle herself with the rope the nurse has good reason to quickly change her tune and agree to find Romeo instead of cursing him for Tybalt's death. though how the Nurse knows Romeo is with Friar lawrence i'm not sure- maybe just the logical place to look?

3.3

We find at the beginning of this scene that Romeo ran to Friar Lawrence before he knew anything of what the Prince's decree was. the Friar comes in and brings him up to speed. Romeo for some reason thinks banishment is worse than death. He also does not think of bringing Juliet with him since she has already vowed to be his wife and all (again, WHY NOT?!?!?!?) thankfully at least Friar Lawrence is there to give the smack-down- though it takes him a few lines to get Romeo to shut up long enough for him to deliver his talking to ("O then I see that madmen have no ears." ...: in fact it takes the knock at the door to shut romeo up and the news coming in from Juliet.

The nurse tells Romeo to BE A MAN

and his response is to stab himself- this is when Friar Lawrence lets loose- (Dear Katy Mulvaney, if we were making this out of puppets the clouds would open up and a god-like figure would say to Romeo: STOP BEING EMO!!!!! instead we get this):

Thou hast amazed me: by my holy order,
I thought thy disposition better temper'd.
Hast thou slain Tybalt? wilt thou slay thyself?
And stay thy lady too that lives in thee,
By doing damned hate upon thyself?
Why rail'st thou on thy birth, the heaven, and earth?
Since birth, and heaven, and earth, all three do meet
In thee at once; which thou at once wouldst lose.
...
Thy dear love sworn but hollow perjury,
Killing that love which thou hast vow'd to cherish;
Thy wit, that ornament to shape and love,
Misshapen in the conduct of them both,
...
What, rouse thee, man! thy Juliet is alive,
For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead;
There art thou happy: Tybalt would kill thee,
But thou slew'st Tybalt; there are thou happy too:
The law that threaten'd death becomes thy friend
And turns it to exile; there art thou happy:
A pack of blessings lights up upon thy back;
Happiness courts thee in her best array;
But, like a misbehaved and sullen wench,
Thou pout'st upon thy fortune and thy love:
Take heed, take heed, for such die miserable.
Go, get thee to thy love, as was decreed,
Ascend her chamber, hence and comfort her:
But look thou stay not till the watch be set,
For then thou canst not pass to Mantua;
Where thou shalt live, till we can find a time
To blaze your marriage, reconcile your friends,
Beg pardon of the prince, and call thee back
With twenty hundred thousand times more joy
Than thou went'st forth in lamentation.

And thank god b/c the audience is dying for a laugh the nurse answers at the end of this speech:

Nurse

O Lord, I could have stay'd here all the night
To hear good counsel: O, what learning is!
My lord, I'll tell my lady you will come.

3.4

A short little scene which opens with the Capulets and Paris. Lord C. has the line "we were born to die" which very much echos the earth as womb/tomb sentiment friar lawrence talked about earlier. I think this scene is incredibly important because if lord Capulet did not essentially give his word that he would win Juliet then I don't think he would lose it so much in the coming scenes when she tells him no. I think this is not about his father's right to choose her husband because we saw earlier he wasn't going to force it, but about his word, his pride, his honor due to what he says in this scene. I also think the way Paris says the line "I would that Thursday were tomorrow" can win the audience's sympathy to the possibility of him marrying Juliet, which makes the tragedy that much more painful later. If Paris is truly moved by the possibility of marrying Juliet and not just as a pawn for whatever ties he wants with Capulet that line is just- amazing. especially considering that we all know juliet is upstairs waiting to get it on with Romeo. We are also all hoping they aren't doing it yet since Lord Capulet just asked Lady Capulet to check on her before bed- or maybe we are supposed to assume she forgets in her grief over Tybalt?

3.5

After the shot 3.4 we have the epic roller coaster of 3.5.

The R&J exchange that starts this scene is not only stunningly beautiful, it is also one of my favorite scenes. When Dan and I saw the ASC production of this show our first year in grad school, just as we were falling in love- the beginning of this scene set us into a fit of giggles because the I have to go yeah you have to go no wait don't go!!! progression was a little too familiar.

Plus there's this:

that's your R&J cultural noise moment for the day- if you haven't watched Shakespeare in Love recently do. and if you dont have time to watch the whole thing just skip to the part where she discovers there is something better than a play and they essentially do the it was the lark scene. It is beautiful. (I'm sure you are all smart enough to know this, but PLEASE don't take the movie as historically accurate. Tom Stoppard is a play/screen writer, not a biographer/historian.)

So... then we have even MORE foreshadowing and the hit you over the head bit from Juliet:

O God, I have an ill-divining soul!

methinks I see thee now, thou art so low,

As one dead in the bottom of a tomb...

DUN DUN DUN!

So Romeo leaves just in time for Juliet's mom to walk in the door- maybe this is the whole playing with time thing and the timelines with R&Js conversation overlap with the Capulet conversation with Paris we already saw? Anyway.. 

Going back to the love in a culture of violence theme... Juliet has this incredibly beautiful line after her mother assumes she is upset Romeo is alive after killing Tybalt, the response is "Would none but I might venge my cousin's death!" and of course we know that "vengeance" would actually be forgiveness of her husband. That gives me chills.

Lady capulet then talks about killing Romeo with poison (THE HAMMER OF HERE'S WHATS GOING TO HAPPEN STRIKES AGAIN!!)

Then there's this golden exchange:

Lady Cap. The County Paris, at Saint Peter’s Church,

Shall happily make thee there a joyful bride.

JUL.

Now, by Saint Peter’s Church and Peter too,

He shall not make me there a joyful bride.

Then Capulet joins the scene and things get really ugly really fast. I think this is one of the saddest, harshest scenes in the play, especially if you have seen an affectionate, fun, joyful Capulet in the first half, and especially if you see Juliet struggle with the idea of telling her father the truth of her marriage/hiding it in her riddled language about not marrying Paris.  This scene upsets me so much I don't even want to break apart some of the more beautiful moments, aside from what an awesome swear Capulet has when he says "God's bread, it makes me mad!"  and also to say that those of you who know me know I'm obsessed with the RSC production of Nicholas Nickleby and one of the most genius pieces in that performance is the way they blend this scene with Kate Nickleby's distress. Perhaps that's why I get doubly upset at this scene. IN a good way. It's supposed to make you feel, right?
The scene ends with Juliet and her Nurse, the Nurse encouraging her to marry Paris (WHY DOES NO ONE ENCOURAGE HER TO RUN TO MANTUA?!?!??!!) and then Juliet alone on stage saying that the nurse will no longer know her heart. UGH. Well now that we're all extremely depressed... here's one more additional absurd piece of cultural baggage that goes with this play in lieu of a picture. It is a clip from Romeo and Juliet Sealed with a Kiss. This movie is AWFUL. And creepy. the characters of Tybalt, the Prince, and Paris are all conflated into a creepy blobby green guy.... anyway, the akward/frustration displaces some of the sadness at least:

R&J Act 2: my unabashed love for Friar Lawrence...

Act 2 starts with another Prologue- which many productions tend to cut. I happen to love that the Chorus appears again. I love that we re-cap how obsessed with Rosaline Romeo was and I think its interesting that the chorus says DESIRE doth in his death-bed lie, and YOUNG AFFECTION gapes to be his heir. Assuring-or perhaps not and merely teasing depending on your chorus- the audience that this thing with Juliet is different.

Finally I just love the ending couplet:

But passion lends the power, time, means to meet

Temp'ring extremities with extreme sweet.

2.1

I find this scene incredibly annoying and difficult to stage. the whole point of it is that Romeo is hiding from his friends and his friends are actually saying some pretty awesome stuff but no one cares because everyone is looking at hiding Romeo.

*have any other Shakespeare nerds noticed that King Cophetua is alluded to a lot? And by a lot I mean I remember this from Love's Labours and Henry IV.2

Reasons to love Mercutio: "THE APE IS DEAD"

For those of you that have not had the pleasure of hearing Tiffany Stern speak on apes at fairs- this allusion is even more amazing once you have and my description of her talk could never do it justice. Does anyone know if she's written an article on this? because I'd love to share it... basically they would train apes to "play dead" when they heard specific phrases and then "come back to life" when they heard other phrases i.e. "the Spanish armada!" :ape faints: "Queen Elizabeth in all her splendor" :ape is revived:

So... I think this scene is one of the dirtiest scenes in Shakespeare thanks to our good friend Mercutio and I marvel at the fact that we teach this to high school sophomores and try to make it "family friendly" 

Fun side story/rant: One of my brothers was studying this play last year and his teacher, who was young and fresh out of her undergrad/certification program decided that a good assignment would be to make this play "hip" by having all the students translate a scene into "text speak"- you know, with numbers standing in for words etc. etc. (Even though with the rise in smart phones/predictive text that kind of communication is on the decline) and my poor brother chose this scene and he and my mother called Dan and me to help with the project- I think they were both mortified when we talked through some of the lines. a recount of some of my favorite text-speech suggestions...

"I conjure Thee by Rosaline's bright eyes... quivering thight, and the demesnes that adjacent lie" became

 "I'll holler @ him bout Rosaline from her eyes to her lady bits"

I can't remember my text suggestion for the erection joke that follows, but I do know that when we got to the bit about Romeo sitting under a medlar tree and the line

"O, Romeo, that she were, O that she were

An open-arse, thou a pop-rin pear!"

my text translation was:

"what what in the butt" at which point my mom and brother declined any more help and I told them to tell his teacher that this was a DUMB assignment.... but I digress...

TEACHING MOMENT: one of my favorite lessons from Textual Culture taught by Professor Menzer was looking at this passage and how editors gloss the anal sex joke in various editions. It is amazing how prudish most editors are and it is an excellent example of how editors skew the way we read these plays.

The scene ends with Mercutio and Benvolio giving up their search for Romeo and heading home to bed.

Perhaps the most famous scene ever: The R&J balcony scene.

If you want to make an argument for this actually being a love story and not just stupid teens wanting to get it on as soon as possible/ Romeo substituting any pretty girl for Rosaline- look at the drastic improvement in Romeo's poetry from Act 1 until now. instead of absurd rhymes and teen angst we get:

"the brightness of her cheek would shame those stars"

and

"O that I were a glove upon that hand, 

That I might touch that cheek!"

and

"O, speak again, bright angel, for thou art

As glorious to this night, being o'er my head,

As is a winged messenger of heaven"

Newlywed moment: The line "be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet" really hit me reading it this time around. Because most women still give up their names when they get married right? What does that mean? And for Juliet it means even more than that right? Because in all likelihood she's not just giving up the name (though perhaps that is her hopeful thinking) but also the support of her family? It is strange to think of no longer being the name you grew up with, and I think we just assume it happens without considering the effects of being "newly baptized" as Romeo puts it a few lines later. and how interesting that by the end of her speech she is asking Romeo to give up his name- the shift of who is taking on which identity...

Performance note: I think its important to play up the potential creepyness of when Romeo answers Juliet and she doesnt know who he is yet. Or as our Sassy Gay Friend puts it- the stalker in the garden moment... before we move on back to sappy lover town...

So the delightful thing about this scene is that Juliet is relatively practical concerning Romeo's safety, marriage, etc. and Romeo is absurdly dramatic and epic about things. Juliet's practical let's not swear by ridiculous things speech is only made better by her romantic side a few lines later:

And yet I wish but for the thing i have.

My bounty is as boundless as the sea,

My love as deep; the more I five to thee,

The more I have, for both are infinite

And if that is not how I feel about the awesomeness of marriage right now then I don't know what is. Love and abundance and gratitude are linked in the most beautiful way, aren't they?!

 You get to see a glimpse into how well they could balance each other since Juliet seems to have some success getting this guy to calm down and focus a bit and we will see in a few scenes how he brings out the epic imagery in Juliet we have yet to see.

Teaching times: OK, if Midsummer was a perfect play to teach rhyme scheme then R&J is the perfect play to teach foreshadowing. seriously. Both of them foreshadow how shortly their perfect love will last and how likely it is to end in disaster. Juliet talks about it being like the "lightning which ceases to be ere one can say it  lightens" (more light and dark a la yesterdays observations) and Romeo talks about how if its night maybe this is just like a dream- which means you have to wake up. we'll keep documenting these hammer to the head moments as we go along...

OK, wash of lovely emotions and insane foreshadowing aside, this is where i keep loving Juliet's language but can't relate to her timing- maybe because I thankfully live in a world where there's no need to rush into marriage. I certainly understand the never wanting to get married until you meet someone you want to marry sentiment. But not the- quick! decide if you want to marry me now or leave me alone forever mentality.  Clara's comment on yesterday's post about how very VERY young Juliet is taper's my bewilderment and also makes me that much more impressed with how SMART this little girl is. 

When Romeo tells her that she should send a messenger to him by 9 tomorrow, Juliet replies

"I will not fail, tis twenty year till then"

Isn't that fantastic? I am obsessed with the way Shakespeare plays with time and our conception of time. I will probably keep looking at this as well. 

More foreshadowing: Juliet wishes romeo to have "sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast" -very deathlike language only multiplied by Romeo's lines which repeat sleep, peace, and then go on to talk of rest, and ghostly sire's close cell.

2.3

Speaking of ghostly sire--- let's talk about who might be my FAVORITE character in this play: Friar Lawrence.

2.3 opens with an often cut to pieces yet stunningly beautiful soliloquy, it reminds me of Cerimon's speeches in Pericles.  I think this speech is incredible as not only does it have phrases such as "darkness like a drunkard reels" but it also has deep, disturbing lines like "The earth that's nature's mother is her tomb, What is her burying grave, that is her womb" if that doesn't encapsulate the sex and death themes of this play then please find me a line that does it better. There's also this incredible exploration of how plants that are poisonous are also healing- very much like the opportunities people in this play have to be poisonous and violent or loving. I saw this play done at the RSC on my summer abroad with Pepperdine and the director's vision/argument with that production was what love cannot live in a culture of violence. I think its much more interesting and moving to think about how somehow love can begin EVEN in a culture of violence. "two such opposed kings encamp them still/ in man as well as herbs, grace and rude will"

So after Fr.'s awesome speech, Romeo enters and what follows is how I wish all relationships between confessor and parishioner could be- the friar does an incredible job of cutting through any ifs ands or buts and is friendly yet direct with Romeo about if he is troubled, or if he has "not been in bed tonight" for some other reason... he already knows all about Rosaline and is concerned with Romeo's penchant for trying to fornicate with her. He demands Romeo stop beating around the bush with his answers and when Romeo tells him of his love for Juliet and asks the friar to marry them what is the response? 

HOLY SAINT FRANCIS (fantastic oath. and always funny.)

then he goes on to reprimand Romeo for changing affections so quickly. 

A little sampling of their awesome dialogue:

ROM.

Thou chidst me oft for loving Rosaline.

FRI. L.

For doting, not for loving, pupil mine.

ROM.

And badst me bury love.

FRI. L.

Not in a grave,

To lay one in, another out to have.

ROM.

I pray thee chide me not. Her I love now

Doth grace for grace and love for love allow;

The other did not so.

FRI. L.

O, she knew well

Thy love did read by rote that could not spell.

Seriously, if I am already too old to play Juliet then will someone PLEASE cast me as the Friar?!?! 

And finally the scene ends with some more foreshadowing: Friar warns Romeo: Wisely and slowly, they stumble that run fast.

2.4 We are back to my new favorite envisioning of How I Met Your Mother- Benvolio and Tybalt talk about a challenge Tybalt sent to Romeo (presumably for crashing the party now that Lord Capulet isn't there to stop him.

Highlight includes Mercutio's: 

Alas, poor Romeo, he is already dead, stabb’d with a white wench’s black eye, run through the ear with a love-song, the very pin of his heart cleft with the blind bow-boy’s butt-shaft; and is he a man to encounter Tybalt?

The next bit about Tybalt is a fight choreographer's dream as it list a bunch of dueling moves you can incorporate into the later fight.
Romeo comes in and the banter gets dirty and there's a lot of hey look at me i'm manly and i'm showing it!! The thing I love about this exchange is that Benvolio sits there quietly and only chimes in with a zinger about erections.
Then enters the nurse with good ol' Peter the servant. I enjoy that this scene can either be deliciously flirtatious with the nurse  or else kind of edgy and creepy if she genuinely does not like the comments she is receiving from Romeos friends. Also: Mercutio sings in this scene. Has anyone ever seen a production that kept his strange little ditties? because I'd like to...
There are scores more sexual jokes- maybe if I teach this one day I should have the students play spot the THAT'S WHAT SHE (or he) SAID moments...
I also think that once the other boys leave and the Nurse is getting down to business with Romeo that you get a chance, amidst the humor and rambling, to see how much attention she pays and doting she does to/about Juliet. It is incredibly sweet and I think the Juliet/Nurse relationship depicts an incredible amount of love.
2.5
"Love's heralds should be thoughts
Which ten times faster glides than the sun's beams"
More anxiety over time here as Juliet waits for the nurse's return.
You also get a wonderful couplet about youthful Juliet's feeling about the pace of the elderly:
"But old folks- many feign as they were dead,
Unwieldy, slow, heavy, and pale as lead."
The rest of the scene I'm afraid i'm going to give short shrift to because it is a delightful scene between the nurse and Juliet, as she teases Juliet before admitting that Romeo waits to marry her- but something my darling husband became fascinated with in this scene is that the Nurse tells Juliet she will fetch a (rope) ladder which Romeo can use to climb into Juliet's room so they can have their wedding night- note this because it will come up again later.

2.6
Romeo has some more foreshadowing saying "then love-devouring death do what he dare"
and the Friar warning him "these violent delights have violent ends... therefore love moderately: long love doth so..."
Juliet's words before her wedding speaks straight to my heart:
"They are but beggars that can count their worth,
But my true love is grown to such excess
I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth"
 

or as this guy put it I think Juliet couldn't be happier, wealthier, or more in love

The final line of the act is Friar Lawrence saying "you shall not stay alone Till Holy Church incorporate two in one" I love that he doesn't trust them alone for a second not to just jump on each other, and that he couches it in such lovely terms.
Those of you who haven't studied early modern theatre- it is worth noting that the wedding does not take place on stage because people at the time hadn't really figured out if that would actually make the actors married. If the words in front of witnesses were enough, even if they were only playing at the intention behind it and even if the priest wasn't a real priest. Betrothals/handfastings/weddings were a bit of a different process then so it was really important to an early modern audience that the actual vows not be shown onstage. (Especially considering Juliet was being played by a young boy...)
and that's Act 2.

Get ready for this comedy to end....

 

 

Today's picture is also your R&J cultural adaptation- Benvolio, Romeo, and Mercutio (played by Sean Lyons, Zac Hoogendyk, and Chris Kervick) in This Bridge Theatre's Shakespeare's R&J by Joe Calarco. The show essentially revolves around the idea that four Catholic school boys are changed by going through this play together- I highly recommend reading the script.

R&J intro/ACT I- Romeo, the original Emo Kid

So, yes,I took a break from blogging last week with Thanksgiving and whatnot.

I took the week off since I figured most people would be busy cooking/traveling/etc. anyway. Plus, it turns out blogging is a lot more work/time consuming than I first imagined so I'm trying to adjust to that. Just a heads up I will be taking next week off as well as I will finally be on my honeymoon!! But I will get through another play in the meantime...

Romeo & Juliet

INTRODUCTION:

This play could have come first since I think I memorized the prologue when i was about six years old. I'm not even joking. But i probably didn't read the play in its entirety until a bit later, once Midsummer reminded me how often I pulled out that big complete works book when I was younger. There's a lot of talk about how fraught with cultural consciousness and prior performance baggage playing Hamlet can be- I think that doesn't hold a candle to the baggage that comes with R&J. Between the adaptations, literary references, and assumed knowledge, you can make it through a lot of life having never read the actual R&J but having plenty of images and expectations in your head. There are still plenty of people who have heard of Hamlet as a  of literature but have no idea what actually happens plot- wise. (I have a good story about this that I will write about when we get to Hamlet)

So I think its even harder to come to R&J fresh than it was for me to come to Midsummer fresh. I'm interested to see what jumps out at me.

ACT 1:

Prologue:

 I think this is a good place to talk about my issue with the idea that because this one prologue says "2 hours traffic of our stage plays should be 2 hours. I'm not saying you should keep in every line of every version of Hamlet into a conflated gargantuan but I AM saying some shows don't work in just 2 hours- I think a 2 hour Lear would be a bit threadbare. That being said, I think a lot of modern productions of Shakespeare take MUCH longer than they should. Poor pacing kills both the storytelling and the poetry of these plays. I also think it's a woeful fact that most modern attention spans seem to be stretched by anything longer than 20 min. so perhaps short and sweet is good for beginning plays introducing audiences to shakespeare.

Other than that, let’s move on to the first scene!

1.1

From the start I am reminded that the first half of R&J is actually one of my favorite comedies. I love that no one told this play it was supposed to be a tragedy until much too late. I like to amuse myself by wondering if Shakespeare wanted to write a comedy and the play he was writing kept niggling him to go tragedy instead which he eventually gave in to, or if Shakespeare wanted to write a tragedy but all he had in his head were these hilarious character and situations so he had to write that out first? More than likely Shakespeare was not concerned about keeping a tidy genre for us and just wrote the damn thing, but I have funny images in my head of Will struggling with an anthropomorphic version of the play.

Samson and Gregory start us off with what seems essentially to be a vaudevillian routine full of wackyness and twisting words.

We also get the core of the play in this scene and why I think it is funny that we choose this play as a core Shakespeare work to teach high schoolers: SEX AND VIOLENCE

This whole play is sex and violence and teens being hopped up on hormones and being stupid when in groups but painfully sincere when in one on one settings.

And in the midst of all the teenage shenanigans is so much beauty.

OK before I get to sappy- let's move on to the fact biting thumbs as a sign of insult should really be more popular. who's going to bring it back with me? any dramaturg out there want to look up where this sign comes from?

Is there a bad role in this play? because I forgot how awesome the supporting characters are.

Anyway, after the comedy devolves into fighting the parents come in who are no better behaved than their children were it not for their wives:

 Enter old Capulet in his gown, and his wife, Lady Capulet.

CAP.

What noise is this? Give me my long sword ho!

LA. CAP.

A crutch, a crutch! Why call you for a sword?

CAP.

My sword, I say! Old Montague is come,

And flourishes his blade in spite of me.

Enter old Montague and his wife, Lady Montague.

MON.

Thou villain Capulet!—Hold me not, let me go.

LA. MON.

Thou shalt not stir one foot to seek a foe.

After this the Prince enters and gives a speech that sets up the stakes for the rest of the play. What do we think of the prince? No one talks much about him. He isn't developed much but he seems like a guy trying really hard to rule well.

After the crowd disperses we finally get to our first titular character when Montague asks Benvolio if Romeo was involved in this fight (FORESHADOWING) But Benvolio tells us he was not as he was moping under a tree by himself. Montague's response to this?

Many a morning hath he there been seen,


With tears augmenting the fresh morning’s dew,


Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs,


...


Away from light steals home my heavy son,


And private in his chamber pens himself,


Shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out,


And makes himself an artificial night.


Ah yes. Romeo. the model for emo teens everywhere. Shortly after this description in Romeo comes and whines for several lines before noticing the evidence of what was apparently the giant gang fight in the streets. He reacts over-dramatically to this and Benvolio laughs at him which I LOVE. TEACHING MOMENT: Dr. Ralph used this Benvolio/Romeo scene to illustrate his argument that Romeo is a dummy compared to Juliet and that his poetry is intentionally corny and bad. I have no shame in picking up that lesson and passing it on. Not that I necessarily think Romeo is dumb- just an incredibly overly emotional creature whereas Juliet can fight against the crazy hormones a bit better... a prime example of Romeoe's ridiculousness


"Tut, I have lost myself, I am not here. This is not Romeo, he's (... I would break the meter to insert a pause here...) some other where" Some other where. Gold.


So what's romeo's problem? that he is banished from his love? NO. not yet, at least- that he can't get laid! and it sounds like he's been a real charmer too, here is what he say of Rosaline:

... she’ll not be hit

With Cupid’s arrow, she hath Dian’s wit;

And in strong proof of chastity well arm’d,

From Love’s weak childish bow she lives uncharm’d.

She will not stay the siege of loving terms,

Nor bide th’ encounter of assailing eyes,

Nor ope her lap to saint-seducing gold. Nice one Romeo. What lady doesn't love being cat-called and then eye-banged and then being treated like a prostitute?! Dear directors of R&J: please dont ever cut these lines. Romeo continues to mope until the end of the scene swearing no one could ever be as beautiful as this one lady who won't sleep with him. 1.2 The scene begins with Montague claiming that peace between him and the Capulets should not be hard (clearly he's not taking Tybalt into account) And then he and Paris get down to discussing Juliet. WHO IS ONLY FOURTEEN. I think Capulet is an incredible role and he gets this gem of a line: "Earth hat swallowed all my hopes but she; She's the hopeful lady of my earth" wow. the imagery, the rhetoric, the fact that all his other babies died and Juliet is a big deal to him who he seems to respect. he seems to be glowing with the love he has for his daughter. They break off talking about Juliet to tell Capulet's servant (Peter?) to invite people to his party- this servant part is fantastic. and again i say to you that this play is HILARIOUS at this point. See, Capulet just gave the list of people who need invitations to the servant who can't read. So he seeks out someone who can and who might that be? Romeo and Benvolio! Peter: God gi'good e'evn, I pray, sir, can you read? Romeo: Ay, mine own fortune in my misery. Eeyore eat your heart out! Anywhoo we end this act with romeo agreeing to go to the capulet party where benvolio promises he'll find a prettier girl. 1.3 Three scenes in we finally meet Juliet. I think she is worth the wait. I can't tell you how sad it makes me to think that I am too old to play this part. and that certainly wont keep me from working on her language! We also meet the Nurse who is, again, HISTERICAL and absurd and yet for all her absurdity one of the most touching and genuine characters in the play. The nurse mentions having a daughter named Susan who died. Lots of dead children huh? have to balance all the laughs somehow i guess... The story she tells about her husband telling Juliet to fall on her back is incredibly awkward and the way the Nurse is oblivious to how awkward it is tickles me every time. Reason I absolutely love juliet- When her mother asks her what she thinks of marriage this 14 year old girl responds "It is an honor I dream not of" This is exactly how I used to feel before meeting Dan. and goodness knows its an amazing response for an early teen to have. random note: I love that they describe Paris as a flower. The choice a director makes with how to cast/portray Paris has such a HUGE effect on the story. If he's a jerk or snobby the story is completely different than if he's kind of awesome or really sweet but just incredibly awkward and not as appealing as Romeo. What do you all think of Paris?! OK, here's a line I never paid much attention to before but is going to be my new pick-up line: when talking of Paris Lady Cap says: "This precious book of love, this unbound lover, To beautify him only lacks a cover" while this image is troubling as it implies the males have all the content and the women just beautify that content- I can't  help but love it in the way it reminds me of the immortal compliment in my life of "you are a folio and I am a quarto so let's conflate and make little octavos" Ah literary innuendos. That brings us through the closing of the scene with one of the nurse's most famous lines which I also think we should bring back to modern vernacular: "Go, girl! Seek happy nights to happy days" YES. just... yes. 1.4 Wow. I don't remember the first act having this many scenes. I guess when you watch the play they all blur together anyway... Oh that's right- this is the boys being gross and mean with each other scene. I am going to take this moment to proclaim my belief that Mercutio is a REALLY difficult role. I feel like the audience has to love him or the second half of the play doesn't gain the sympathy and momentum needed to make the play work, but the guy has some crazy language and I think a lot of directors fear it and cut the crap out of it or else the actor fears it and tries to do all this crazy performance stuff to distract from his/her discomfort. there's also a lot of misogyny in Mercutio OK.. as I continued reading this scene suddenly in my head Romeo, Benvolio, and Mercutio transformed into the guys from How I Met Your Mother. Ted is obviously over-dramatic Romeo, I would love the shit out of NPH/Barney Stinson as Mercutio (can't you imagine an awkard "up top!" moment after some of his bawdy jokes that no one else acknowledges?! not to mention the switch from bawdy to profound on a dime...) leaving good old Marshall as Benvolio. Especially since after Mercutio's long Queen Mab speech Benvolio's response is "This wind you talk of blows us from  ourselves; Supper is done, and we shall come too late" always have to think about the food... I am not sure I can get these characters out of my head for these parts now... FINALLY- remember how I talked about all the baggage that comes along with this play? I cant tell whether that baggage and over-exposure makes the foreshadowing painfully obvious,, or if the foreshadowing is just painfully obvious. 1.5  Dear God Act I you just keep going!! So we are at the Capulet party now... Capulet is SO SO AWESOME in these first scenes. I think he has to be or we would just write him off later, right? Still, his speech getting everyone to dance, his excellence in hosting and graciousness- its all so wonderful. and the confrontation with Tybalt when he switches between chiding him for his would be outburst and calling for good times and more light to the party guests/servants is just delightful. *I am astonished at how many light/dark white/black metaphors are in this play already. and we haven't even gotten to what light through yonder window breaks... The meeting/the sonnet- anyone feel strongly about the whole "how many times/where do they kiss" debate? because I don't. and while the perfect sonnet coming together is a wonderful thing- I don't understand why this is the part English classes focus on. there are so many more beautiful speeches/interchanges in this play!!! and that's Act I... Settle in because this is the norm for how many scenes are in each act... onward onward. until tomorrow- there's a 2.2 reference I could use here but i'm choosing not to....   Today's photo features Brian Falbo as Tybalt in a production of R&J directed by Shannon Schultz. Photo credit: Woods Pierce. Also, your daily dose of cultural R&J wahahaha? courtesy of Reefer Madness: