Oh Romeo (Blog Post 4)

Discuss the first time Shakespeare introduces Romeo -- What is he doing? What is he saying? What do we learn about his character and personality? What is your first impression of him as a person? Do you like him, respect him, admire him, etc.? Do the same for Juliet. Compare them. Which do you like better?

When  Shakespeare first introduces Romeo he is very sad and depressed because he cannot be with Juliet's cousin.  He is saying how much he loved her and just wanted to be with her because she was this beautiful person, the most beautiful he has ever seen and wants to marry her.  We learned that he is a character that wants to find love in the most unlikely of places and have a connection to someone that might not exist based on an opinion but he sees on the outside of a persons body by what they want to represent rather than getting to know them and really seeing what's on the inside.  It's also tells us that he is more superficial than someone that really wants to look into somebody's personality and what they're like you would much rather be with someone that's pretty than someone that is intelligent or kind.  My first impression of him is that he's almost shallow because he doesn't care about anyone else but Juliet's cousin he wishes to mary because of her beauty.  In my opinion I respect him because of the family that he comes from and knowing what he does however I do not admire him or think that he would be a kind person because he is more into the looks of a person then the personality traits or what they're made of.  However when Juliet first comes in to be seen she does not want to marry Paris because she wants to be her own person and still be young she would much rather know the person and phone love with them because that's what she feels rather than being in range marriage especially at her age because she wants to be able to make her own choice and then be her own person. While, Romeos more just in to marry someone because of a name or their looks and he just wants a pretty  trophy wife almost.  My first impression and Juliet is that she's young and almost a little bit naïve because she has been so sheltered by her parents that she doesn't really understand what love is and how to embrace it and except it but also because cautious  with it.  I also love respect and Juliet because of her social status and I would almost admire her for being so naïve and not knowing a lot about the real world but I would almost pity her because of that as well.  I enjoy about it because I feel like she's a more sincere person and Romeo because Romeo just wants the looks and title she wants a person that she's going to love and cherish and relate with.

Romeo and Juliet Activity (.30, 1, 2)

Based on the three Romeo and Juliet activities that we did, I think that some of the most important themes and ideas were the following,

1. Everyone has their own way of displaying the importance of Romeo and Juliet's with their relationship.
2.  That sometimes actions are way more effective than words.
3. There are common themes but how people get there is the interesting part to show their version of the story, which is different from their interpretation because it is what Shakespeare wrote and how they think they can get that across the best way for the short amount of time that they have.

These are some of the main things but there always will be common themes for Romeo and Juliet when it is performed so I don't think those need to be stressed as much as interpretation, imagination, and effectiveness.

Devised Theater link

https://youtu.be/O7xqL1jsW_o

Romeo and Juliet Act 1 Scene 2 Book Notes

Cast:

• Capulet
• County Paris
• Benvolio
• Romeo
• 
  

Notes:

• Capulet thinks that the Montague and him can keep the peace because they are old
• Capulet is worried about his daughter
• Capulet wants his daughter to marry and wants her to marry Paris (County Paris)
• Juliet agreed to marry County Paris and Capulet (Her father) allowed him to
• IN a new section the Capulet’s and County Paris have left and Romeo and Benvolio come on
• The capulet servant asks Romeo if he can read so that he could know who to give the letter to.
• The letter os for a party at the Capulet’s house and it is an invitation to some people
• Romeo and Benvolio are going to crash the Capulet party

Romeo and Juliet Act 1 Scene 1 Book Notes

Cast:

• Sampson - Capulet Servant
• Gregory - Capulet Servant
• Abram - Montague Servant
• Benvolio -
• Tybalt -
• Citizens of Verona
• Capulet
• Lady CApulet
• Montague
• Lady Montague
• Prince
• Romeo

Notes:

• The two Capulet servants (Sampson and Gregory) don’t seem to want to do their own work and try to get each other to do it.
• They (Capulet servants) are rude and want to get the Montague servant to fight first so that it isn’t their fault
• They (Capulet servants) make faces and rude gestures towards the Montague servant who did nothing wrong.
• The Montague servant (Abram) gets angry and they start fighting
• The three ae stopped by Benvolio(Montague?), who wants them to make peace and leave each other alone
• Tybalt (Capulet?) comes out to fight Benvolio.
• Tybalt says “What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word as I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee. Have at thee, coward!”
• Capulet comes in, asking his wife (Lady Capulet) for his sword to fight.
• Montague comes in being held back by his wife (Lady Montague) who won’t let him fight in this battle.
• Both wives seem to not want their husbands to get into the fight so that they don’t get hurt.
• The Prince comes in he tries to separate them but it doesn't work until he says that he is the Prince.
• He (Prince) is angry that these two families keep fighting and say that if they fight again they will be killed
• The Prince sets two meetings at different times for them to meet with only the Prince
• Lady Montague wants to know where her son is (Romeo).
• Benvolio tell her that he saw him this morning, walking.
• Montague, knows that his son (Romeo) is there a lot crying and heaving heavy sighs, but doesn’t know why.
• Romeo comes onstage and asks if it was his father (Montague) who just left so quickly
• Benvolio tries to get Romeo to tell him why he is so sad.
• Benvolio finds out the Romeo loves a girl that Does not love him back

Devised Theater Reflection

Reflect on the process of devising and performing. What did you personally contribute to the group? Reflect also on your group as a whole. What went well so far? What was hard so far and what do you need to improve? What have you learned? What did you notice from watching others? On Friday in class, you will do a final version of this piece, so use today's reflection to help you think about what you will change for tomorrow.

I think that my personality in the group brought an elect of getting everything done and having ideas that i could put into words so that we could get a script. I also think i did a lot of the planning and that helped our groups get a lot of the work done. Our group as a whole needed a lot of work because we didn't do even amounts of work. I felt like I was carrying the whole project when I wrote the majority of the script and had to do a lot of the staging and the lines. I also thought that our groups dint flow very well because we did not all put in the same amount of effort. We did a good job of rehearsing professionally and getting the bulk of our memorizing done fairly quickly, we also did good on creating improv  when we were on the stage. I think that hardest part was putting my ideas out there and performing its other people. With the monologue  it was easy because it was only myself and I didn't have to worry about other peoples opinions or what they thought. Which was nice because nothing felt like a bad idea or wrong in any way. I think that I particularly need to work on putting my idea out there more so that the end result is something that I pictured rather than settling for what I didn't say because I wasn't comfortable. I have learned  that it is not so bad to get up in front of people and perform something that you are about and feel passionately about. I noticed that a lot of us were trying to get into a groove and feel out what the other members of the team were doing, rather than leading the mood or the dialogues   I think that we all really just tried to follow because we were to scared to take the lead. In the final performance I was pleased with how we all worked together and I felt that on the last day everyone really helped out more than the whole project before that day. 

Devised Theater Notes

Devised Theater Notes:

• Devised Theater is very much based on creativity
• You don't have a script when beginning devised Theater
• You really start with just a basic idea for your play or musical and grow from there as you go through rehearsals
• There is Lot of room for adjustment based on what looks and sounds good 
• Sometimes used to create a conversation between the actors and the audience 
• It has become more popular recently 
• Doesn't really have any set rules
• Simple at the beginning 
• Gives actors a lot of artistic ability 

Monolougue Discussion

When working on something that is very complex, like a famous monologue, even your own Monologue it can so. Me times be hard for you to portray emotions when push comes to shove and you are up in the stage.However, with the two monologue that I was working on I was able to show emotion through the tone and pitch my voice was at. Also I was able to move my arms and legs to display emotions or facts. Third I moved my face to display anger or happiness, even a little bit of fear. I think I did well on showing my emotions and memorizing the script, but I think I could work on moving my face more and not getting so nervous. I also think i could work on making some different motions to show a range of emotions rather than just one, which was anger in my Fences monologue. I also feel that when i did I my original monologue in class I could have worked on being more comfortable standing in front of the class. The most difficult aspect for me was getting ready to perform and then getting started performing, because you can see everyone and I watched some people turn to each other and say something or make a small laugh. This made me even more nervous because I though I was doing something wrong or I was  making a fool of myself. I think that as a group we could have worked more on paying attention and being more supportive while the person was acting rather than talking or being on our phones. Some of the tings that I think made a great monologue were the voices and the body movements. They displayed so many different things but also the atmosphere around it that was great, everyone tried their best and worked hard for their role. I also think that people did really well on supporting each other, and taking some time to improve and use what all of us were saying so that they could have a better performance next time. I think that everyone did an amazing job and we all had areas that we needed to work on but overall were excited and nervous but got the job done in the end so that we could deliver a good performance and it ended up being very for filling.
Here is the link for the video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XYyJbcie_Q4

Troy Maxson Monologue

I am choosing the monologue where Troy is speaking to death. (Pg. 77) "Alright...Mr.Death. See now...I'm gonna tell you what I'm gonna do."
Troy, is a usually angry character that is violent and uses his voice as a weapon. He also won't let anyone talk, the way he wont wait for death to have a response for him before he keeps going.

I want to convey anger and a quiet fury that is ready to be unleashed. But also, hurt, a small amount of hurt, where he regrets what he has done and wants death to know that he won't let anyone else he cares about go.
I want to make a usually big character seem smaller so that we get a feel for his true emotions. I also want to make it seem like I'm already preparing for the fight and I'm expecting him to just show up.

My goal is to provider a chilling look into what death and power can do to people and the change in Troy.

Romeo and Juliet Review

Vijewed on: September 1, 2017

Title of the play: The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

Author: William Shakespeare

Director: Raphael Massie

Cast:

Romeo - Steven Lee Johnson

Juliet - Courtney Jamison

Mercutio - Martin K. Lewis

Tybalt - Claire Warden

Lord Montague - Andrew Borthwick-Leslie

Lord Capulet - Mark Sage Hamilton

Friar Lawrence - James Andreassi

Romeo and Juliet: How Hate Really Murdered the Two

In the story of Romeo and Juliet, the town of Verona is burdened with two rival families that would rather see each other dead than united under marriage. These families are the Montagues and Capulets, in the beginning, another brawl breaks out between the people of each family causing the royal family to separate the two. The Prince states that whoever shall break out into another fight will be sentenced to death, with this new threat, both family’s stay far away from each other. Romeo and his cousin are planning to go crash the Capulet's dinner party, all is going well until Romeo sets his eyes on the beautiful Juliet. No later do the two fall in love, and later that night, Romeo sneaks into a garden on the Capulets property and sees Juliet speaking to herself about him. It is there, in the stars that the two swear vows and agree to marry. Romeo goes and convinced Friar Lawrence to marry the two, and with Juliet's Nurse’s help, they get the two together at the church. After the marriage, Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel in which Tybalt kills Mercutio, and in a fit of rage Romeo slays Tybalt and is banished from Verona. Juliet is then being set up to marry Paris when she begs Friar Lawrence to help her get out of it, he gives her a potion that will make her sleep and have the appearance of the dead. He then tells her that he will get Romeo to come and take her away so the two of them can be together. However, the Friars message never arrives and Romeo who, thinking Juliet was dead, buys a poison so he can die and be with her. When he gets to the tomb he meets Paris, whom he says, and then takes the poison himself. Just before he dies Juliet wakes up to see him go. Juliet, now grief stricken stabs herself, the families rush in to see their children dead and they both swear to fix their hatred with each other before anyone else parishes. In this play, the most important theme is that hate can destroy even what love can make. In a way, both the actors and Shakespeare made it prove that no matter the time this theme would be relevant. They wanted us to be able to see what hatred does and be able to fix our mistakes and rivalries before we destroy other people's lives.

The stage was set up so that the actors could get on the ground, and be on the same level as the audience with made it feel more like you were a bystander in the street watching everything take place, then you were an audience member watching a play. They also kept the background mostly the same color which made you focus on the bright costumes and pay more attention to who was wearing what color and keep track of who was on whose side. They also were able to change the lights on the stage to show the color of the family that was most prominent in that scene. Finally, they had music that would pay to signify when there was a transition between the two families. They made sure that the characters that were most important and needed to contrast with someone the most were wearing brighter clothes and were more distinguished in their spot on stage. This was effective because sometimes it got confusing with all the movement and by the costumes, you could tell which actor played each character.

In my opinion, the best actor was Gracy Brown, who played Juliet’s nurse. Nurse was a powerful character that would stand out because of the way that she held herself and the way that she spoke. She would blend in when she needed to and add a little spice when she stood on stage by herself. The actor worked on Nurse by presenting a character that had many different levels, she pulled this off with her body movements and the subtle changes in her voice. She was very prominent when she told the story to Juliet when her mother was getting her ready to be married to Paris. She also showed a completely different side when she was helping Juliet get to Romeo.

In my eyes the play was fantastic. It was good because they mixed some modern day music and actions, even words, into the right places to make it blend more into the twenty-first century. I think that they taught me a lot about presenting yourself in the way that you want to teach the world about who you are and who your character is. Whether you are Juliet or you are just the servant, you have to build the layers up that the real person would have. The play was enjoyable because they included parts where the crowd was involved, for example when Romeo came out and compared the whole crowd to Rosaline. I also learned that you could add different things to each character that maybe the author wouldn’t have put in or the director that really make your interpretation of the character unique. Especially with the idea of having more modern clothes for the costumes.

Overall, the play was a great representation of a lot of things that are happening now that should be resolved, and unfortunately, they are rooted in hate. They also destroy people and their loved ones, it’s always astounding to see just how much another person's emotions can affect the lineage of a family.

1 Minute Monologue (1st Draft)

Welcome to story time with me, Cassidy, so here's a quick monologue of a now funny but at the time scary story wrapped up in a minute or so.

       I'm just standing in the field with the beautiful Divine and Delano (the horse) came on over and puts his head through the fence from the other side. My buddy (Matt) is over on the side of the fence with Delano and all of a sudden Delano smashed his head upwards ripping the electric fence off of the wooden part collapsing the whole thing. I jumped back but out of the corner of my eye, the live, electric fence was over the metal gate, keywords metal gate. I couldn't get out. So now, I'm stuck with a horse that is over 1,000 lbs. that  I don't know if is going to freak out because the fence is getting zapped, loudly, and Matt just stood there and after a minute goes, “Should I go get Bonniejeanne?” And I was all like (Make the duh noises) “Yeah!” And Divine just walked around with me and let me give him a quick rub on his face and neck. So I got out and everyone was fine but it was terrifying.