Week Two – Acting

In our first session of acting for the week, we began by reading through Act 1 Scene 1 of
Romeo and Juliet, as a class, then followed this up by watching Baz Lerhmann's version of
this scene.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1kkig
His version is very stylised and strong in its representation of the differences of the two
families, with the Montagues being more carefree and laid back whereas the Capulet and
more silk, well dressed and co-ordinated. I think this is an effective version of this scene
although, in my opinion at parts it is overly dramatic.
As a warm up, we used ensemble-based tasks in which we learned to work more smoothly
as a group or a gang. The three exercises we focused on were:

• Triangle
• Follow the leader
• Shoaling

Then we separated the class in to two groups, to create our versions of the Montagues
and the Capulets. I was a Capulet in a group with Jude, Anya, Alice, Jack, Ellen, Maddy and
I. We worked on making our own versions, separately, of the prologue using only
movement before coming together as two groups to create a conflict between the pieces.
After filming this, we split back in to the two groups and began to add some speech to our
movements. Next time we should communicate between the two groups though, as when
we came back together, our group had added the speech in to our movements and the
other group had added it on to the end of your piece. This worked quite well though, as it
added to the contrast between the two groups when they came together.
We came together a final time to film this piece before finishing our session.
https://youtu.be/iS2HUBtIqco

I think that the way we rehearsed separately as two groups, before coming together for
the scenes added well to the tension as neither group knew what to expect from the
other. This is actually a commonly used technique in theatre for shows such as west side
story/Romeo and Juliet in order to create raw emotion among the actors.

In our second session of the week, we moved our focus towards Act 2, Scene 2 (also
known as the famous balcony scene) and split in groups of four to complete two sets of
research tasks based on a reinterpretation of the balcony scene we were given. My group
was made up of Anya, Alice, Jack and I and our video was from the 2013 film remake of
the classic.

https://youtu.be/kK11GlFhUSc
The first task was more about critically analysing the piece and task two was about
considering the scene from a director's perspective.

Task One
• In your group, you will be given one example of the opening Act 2 Scene 2 to
watch...
• Critically analyse the following
• Type of performance
• Performance style
• Setting and location, including time period
• Costume and lighting
• Use of language
• Communication of meaning to the audience

Task Two
• Look at the opening of the scene, Romeo's soliloquy and consider how you will
stage the scene from the perspective of the director, for a modern audience
• You should present ideas and information on the following
• Location and setting
• Time period/era
• Performance style
• Atmosphere and intended audience response
• A mood board of ideas for Romeo's costume
• A modern translation of his opening soliloquy

We decided to split up the jobs of Task one and Task two, between us four as a group and
then send it to Anya to put in to a PowerPoint presentation ready to show the rest of the
class in review and reflect later in the week.

The jobs that I was given for this project was to write about the performance styles for
both Task one and Task two, as well as writing a modern translation of the soliloquy for
our chosen 80s time period.
Task one (modern translation) - Performance Style of the Romeo and Juliet 2013 was a
movie and so could take a lot more risks and were less restricted that any stage versions
of the show. The tone of the scene was largely made using studio lighting, controlled
settings and camera angles for certain lines for emphasis. Actors and actresses for stage
would have to rely largely on their voices for this sort of emphasis as they only have one
chance of delivering each line, whereas in TV and film they can reshoot whole scenes or
record the lines separately to keep them clear and unaffected from the climbing of the
balcony.
Task two (modern translation) - The performance style for our reinterpretation of Romeo
and Juliet, set in 80s, would be staged and not filmed. It would be very visual with the
costumes and movement, to emphasise and reinforce the words spoken in the scene but
as is common within plays, the most emotion would be portrayed through the spoken
words. Our version would take a lot of inspiration from the films, Fame and Dirty Dancing,
as it would feature music but not as far to be considered as a musical. There would be a
possibility for it to be a jukebox musical though, such as We will rock you or Mamma Mia.

Original soliloquy -
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's already sick and pale with grief that thou,
her maid, are far more fair than she. Wait... ...it is my lady. Oh, it is my love. Oh, that she
knew she were. The brightness of her cheek would shame, the stars as daylight doth a
lamp. Her eyes set in heaven would give forth such light that birds would sing and think it
were not night. See how she leans her cheek upon her hand. Oh, that I were a glove upon
that hand that I might touch that cheek. Ah, me. She speaks. Oh, speak again, bright
angel.
80s –
Modern translation of the soliloquy - Wait! A light came on in a window. Man, maybe it is
her! Bringing light, like the neon lights in the streets in the early morning! She is bangin',
more than any girl I know. Just as i wanted, a door opened and there she stood there on
the balcony above me. ‘It’s her!’ I whispered. ‘Oh, it’s that girl!’
I wished she could know I was sitting here, watching her but admittedly I didn’t want to
seem like a creep. Painfully, I could see her speak out but not hear a word of what she was
saying. What would it matter anyway? I need to get real, she wasn’t speaking about me...
As my eyes wandered, I struggled to see how anyone could be so fine. For real, her eyes
looked as though their place had been taken by the two brightest stars in the sky.
No kidding, her looks pegged me, as not even the stars in the sky could match her
righteous beauty. Her eyes shone so brightly, birds would fly thinking it was day, leaving
any man sprung from even the slightest glance their way.
As I watched she leant her face on her hand! Oh, how it sucks that I'm not a glove on that
hand! Oh, how I'd jump at any chance to be...
She sighed loudly.
I was desperate to be closer to her, I jumped... At any other time, I might have hurt from
the fall but instead felt nothing of the ground. All I hoped was that she would speak again,
her angelic voice like music to my ears...

When review and reflect came around, Anya and Jack were off college due to being ill and
so Anya was supposed to send us the PowerPoint presentation for us to show the class, on
our own. All that got sent to us was a PowerPoint for only task one which only included
the work that Alice, Jack and I had done and sent to Anya for the presentation and so, I
found Anya to be rather unreliable at this time. Alice and I improvised by speaking to the
class and improvising how we would have directed our own scenes and we still completed
the presentation well together. This is an example of a group I have been in that hasn’t
been able to work very well as a team.