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: