First Draft

Write coursework draft 1

Romeo and Juliet project

Talking about the scene&character:

This scene starts in the morning as Romeo has just left the balcony. And Lady Capulet comes to Juliet to tell her that she has to marry Paris, a “young noble gentlemen” whom Juliet does not like at all.  Juliet refuses to marry, and then Lord Capulet comes in, and he is extremely angry with Juliet’s rebellion. 

I performed Juliet in this scene whose emotions changed a lot through line to line. At first, Juliet should show how much she missed Romeo. And it was a irony when she told Lady Capulet her desire to revenge for her cousin’s death, and she would kill Romeo in person. Only herself and audiences know the truth, so it is very important to make her sound like foreshadowing which is like a little girl holds a secret lying to her parents. Mental activities should be shown in my body languages and intonation. And then when Juliet knows that she has to have a second marriage with Paris, she is shocked, and then the only thing she wants to do is to cancel this inappropriate marriage. 

About staging&costume:

For Juliet, she is a pure and naive girl who has never got in touch with a man and never tasted the feeling of in love. So I choose white for the main color of her dress. And in her deep soul she is strong for love and does not afraid of death or power stronger than her, so I draw a tattoo on my right hand to show this kind of rebellion feeling. The tattoo is a deep red rose which both symbolize the charming love and bloody death. 

In Juliet’s bedroom, there is a bed located at up stage, and a door on the right stage. The balcony is facing the audiences at down stage. And there is a shelf next to the bed. 

My own performance:

My emotions were full and strong. When I said “ O fortune, fortune, all men call thee fickle.” and “ For then I hope, thou wilt not keep him long but send him back.” I used affectionate voice, and I prolong and slow down my talking speed to show how much I missed my Romeo. Also, I knitted my brow and put my hands in front of my chest. When I talked with Lady Capulet about killing Romeo, I told my mind to the audiences, “villain, that he be many miles asunder. God pardon him! I do, with all my heart.” I sighed to show that my heart was suffering of keep that harsh secret. I even could not tell my own parents. And then I turned back to the Lady Capulet. “ madam, from the reach of these my hands, would none but I might venge my cousin’s death.” I clenched my fist and changed to strong and determined voice for proving my position to my mother. But I was still sitting on the bed at this time which indicate that my position was not that “true”. And then, in order to reach my goal--come to Romeo, I told Lady Capulet I want to carry out the mission of poisoning Romeo by myself, and it is the only way which can make me feel satisfied, and I stood up at this moment. When Lord Capulet came in, I looked down to the ground to show my modest and fearfulness, but when he forced me to marry Paris, if not he would drive me away, which light up the rebellion fire in my mind. I twisted the edge of my dress to show my emotions to audiences that I was not giving in. Under this great pressure, I kneeled down to beg Lord Capulet, and actually, I stood still for a second and walked back a few steps before I kneeled down. This was a feeling of formal which means that I was really meant to beg Lord Capulet to change his mind, and my desire was very strong. When Lord Capulet was blamed me, I stared at his eyes with angry and helpless, so I bited my lips. 

Cooperate with partners:

Many eye contacts with partners were useful and necessary. Since we practiced many times, our lines were remembered pretty well. So we can recited our lines fluently and naturally. In order to make the scene look reliable, we associated partners in many different ways. For example, I stood up and walked to the door when Lady Capulet came in. And she touched my should when she was trying to cheer me up because she thought I was gloomy and sad for my cousin’s death. One other example is when I heard Lady Capulet would say cheerful things, I held her hands to show that I really wanted to hear some happy things.  


Experience gained:

Put myself into the character, Juliet is the daughter of a rich noble man, so she should be well-educated and well-behaved. Some of my body languages were over exaggerated which means the emotions went beyond my character, and this probably made the character seem unrealistic. Besides, we should not only memorize the lines but also understand it, so that we can know how when and why do those certain lines out, and this helps our performance a lot. Feeling of character, feeling of stage can make me become a trained and experienced actor.