Act 1 - Glass Menagerie - Character Chart

Romeo and Juliet Adaptaion

Consider these questions in addition to your overall reflection. What did you personally do well? What did you struggle with? How have you progressed since the beginning of the school year? How did you work in your group and what successes and challenges did you experience with your scene partners? Also, did your group achieve the vision that you originally had for this scene? What do you think of this adaptation? How does it add to your understanding of Romeo and Juliet?

In my group, we went with Aaron's idea. I think that was a smart choice in terms of the idea about it being a VR (Virtual Reality) game. however, there was a lot of difficulty explaining what was going on. I also think that Aaron did the clear majority of the work and while I tried to help I don’t feel like I really did a lot of the work neither did the other two members. It also was hard considering that we had to switch Romeo's multiple times and move all the characters around. I feel like that also made it harder for me just because nobody had wanted to play Romeo and they always wanted to skip over lines where they were addressing me as Juliet. In the end, I think that it really came together well enough that everyone had a job. Based on all of this I think that I did a good job providing ideas and working on the costuming. I found that I struggled with also acting alongside everyone, plus there were times when it felt like people didn’t want to be in this project and they would be gone for periods of time, I found it hard to get into character and I definitely did not do the best or most work in the group. In fact, I feel that I did almost nothing in order to help. I have progressed by putting what I feel like I should do as a character. The biggest challenge was at the beginning when nobody would be Rome and I was told to be Juliet, it was hard to have a character assigned and nobody want to do it with you, it was also hard when Jacob couldn’t say any of the more 'romantic' lines to me at all, which made me feel a little uncomfortable when nobody else really would and we had to almost force Aaron to do it. I think that also made it hard for everyone to act in the final product, so we changed not only his character but pretty much every other persons  character. A big success that we had was knowing all of our lines in the filmed version I think that we did achieve what Aaron and said he wanted, but I don’t think the final product turned out exact because we are still very new to this. Personally, I didn’t like this adaptation or performing it. It didn't quite do anything for my understanding of Romeo and Juliet because we went over the basic ideas, the only thing was that they really did have to be truly in love to do things for this for each other. 

The Caucasian Chalk Circle

Title Of The Play: The Caucasian Chalk Circle
The Author: Bertolt Brecht
The Date On Which You Viewed It: Thursday, November 9,2017
The Location: Black Box, Cheshire Academy Field House
Director: Mr. Aronson
Names Of The Major Actors: N/A
In the Caucasian Chalk Circle, a war breaks out and the governor and his family are the ones under target. The wife, who is very vain, leaves her child behind and a nice maid, Grusha, took the baby and fled the palace to save the child from the public who wanted her dead. She traveled for a really long time when she passed over a traitorous bridge to get to her brother's house. At her brother's house, they set up a marriage after housing her for months so that she can live with the baby peacefully. This man is near death so she could still be with her love when he comes back from the war. However, right after the marriage is finalized the war is announced as over and the "dying" husband comes back to life and is no longer sick. For the next few years, she is stuck with him until the palace people take her child to see if it was the Governor's missing child. THen we switched to the story about the judge for their trial and how he became the judge. When they all come together and he has to judge this case he decides, after listening to both sides, he draws a chalk circle around the child and the two 'mothers' can each have half of the child. When one can't pull on the child the judge gives the child to her because he can see that she truly loves this child enough to not hurt him and the other mother is willing to hurt the child.
The staging of this play was very specific because the stage was so small. Int he beginning everyone sat in a 'V' shape and through the whole thing the maid, Grusha, is in the back of the theater. THere were not b=very many colors because of the time and the sadness, and dreary ideas of the play. aswell of the costumes are the army green, grey, and brown. This can show the 
The character that I thought was the best was either the Judge or the husband and wife who wanted to get a divorce. These were my favorite because they were funny and came in at parts that the audience needed to make the play a little more bearable. This is because the play was so long and they provided very funny elements but also very necessary ones.
I did not enjoy this play because i felt that these was alot f information that could have been taken out, also I did not like the play becasue of the length. This play was very long, and the beginning was very dry, the end was better because there was more comedy and the storyline was more active.

Blog Post 8

Blog #8 due by midnight -- talk about what group you are in, what character you will play, what your character is thinking and feeling in the scene, what emotion you will try to portray, and why this scene is important to your character. (300 words)

I am in Aaron's group, his concept is based on an idea form a show called Westworld. I would be playing Juliet, an artificial intelligence game character. The scene that Aaron chose for us to perform was the two suicides between Romeo and Juliet, in order to do a good version of this scene I will really need to get into the mind of Juliet. In my opinion, Juliet is feeling relief that she can see Romeo and be free, but when he dies she is overwashed with anger, sadness, and mourning. It is important because Juliet is really alone at this point on the screen both mentally and physically. She feels like everyone has turned or left her, and Romeo was the only one that she had left. For this, I need to portray emotions of sadness and despair. Since I have lost the love of my life, and I am desperate to leave the world of the game I will want to make sure that I am completely distraught because Juliet is so traumatized seeing Romeo die that she needs to be with him no matter what. This scene is important to my character becue it shows the extremes that I will go to in order to be with my husband Romeo, also the extreme that I am willing to go to in order to get out of this game in the end. This scene is also important because it is not only the last big moment in the story, but it also is something that was unprecedented in Aaron's version, and the company who made the game has to deal with the ideas and consequences of this 'setback'. Finally, this scene is so important to Juliet, because it is her death scene, and it is when she really realizes everything and makes huge decisions by herself, which we don't really see her do without at least another person around or their aid in her decision making.

Romeo and Juliet Adaptation Propsal

Romeo and Juliet Adaptation Proposal

In my scene of Romeo and Juliet I would choose the scene where Tybalt and Mercutio die. Tybalt would start by wearing all black and potentially something along the lines of a biker guy and be in VDP or if played by a girl in one of the other dorms. Tybalt would be talking badly about the Montague family, this is where it would change from the book, he would be amping himself up in order to go to a confrontation and kill Romeo. The screen would flash to the Montagues who were sitting in the black box wearing jeans, and plain red shirts. They would be having random small conversations and messing around with their weapons (Swords, guns, etc.) FLash again and Tybalt is walking across campus with at least one other person, while continue talking about how he is going to kill Romeo and make him pay. Cut to Tybalt barging into the Black box and confronting Mercutio and BEnvolio or whoever else is in the room at the time. Tybalt yells for Romeo, MErcutio tries to get the information to him the Romeo is not there, but Tybalt will have none of it, pushing Mercutio to the side, Tybalt walks into another room (The dressing room in Black box) and ROmeo bursts in happily and filled with joy, he wants to speak with Mercutio about something but before he can Tybalt burst out and shoot a single shot at him without any warning, while he misses ROmeo pulls his own gun and the two begin to chase and fight each other using an array of items as weapons (Guns, Swords, Chairs, anything they can get to use. Tybalt begins to get ahead at the beginning before romeo gets on tom and is attacking him. Mercutio is yelling the whole time at the two and decides to jump in even though Benvolio is trying to hold him back. Mercutio pushes Romeo to get him to stop, Tybalt in the back grabs his gun and goes to shoot romeo but hit Mercutio. He flees the second Mercutio freezes with his companion and goes to the gym. Romeo is still up with BEnvolio and you can hear him scream all the way to the gym where TYbalt is, Tybalt is in shock and his partner is trying to get him to leave but he won't. Rome gets an angry glint in his eye while holding Mercutio's body and get up, grabs his own gun and marches to the gym where he meets Tybalt. Rome advances and begins to attack TYbalt, Tybalt, partner flees through the door, and Benvolio is locked outside, but banging on the door to get Romeo to stop. Tybalt gets ahead of ROmeo and is yelling at him to stop and leave it alone because it was his fault and he points the gun at Romeo and ROmeo takes it and brings it to his head and says one of them is not going to make it out, only one of them will leave and the other will die. TYbalt hesitates and ROmeo takes the moment to grab his gun, Tybalt turns and begins to flee, ROmeo shoots him in the back and the scene fades as Tybalt hits the ground.

Romeo and Juliet Movie Reiew

Romeo and Juliet: The Never Ending Tragedy

Review on the movie Romeo and Juliet Directed By Baz Lurhmann

Title of play/movie: Romeo + Juliet (Romeo and Juliet)

Original Author: William Shakespear

Date viewed:

Location of Viewing:

Important Actors: Leonardo DiCaprio (Romeo), Claire Danes (Juliet), Brian Dennehy, John Leguizamo, Pete Postlethwaite, Paul Sorvino, Diane Venora

Romeo and Juliet is a timeless, classic, story that exhibits the vile hate that two families have against each other and the war, death, and despair it brings upon the households. In, Romeo and Juliet the town of Verona is heavily plagued by the continuous Disputes from the Montagues (Romeo's lineage) and the Capulets (Juliet's lineage). The two households begin the story fighting with each other in public (The gas station in the movie). The prince intervenes before any deaths occur and refuse to let this continue in his city, therefore he warns the next brawl will end in the punishment of death. This heavily displays the anger and hostility between the two families, as to go to a gunfight in the middle of a public place (Movie version). It also shows the disregard for others lives, and the blinding abilities of their feud. Skipping forward, Romeo gets word of a party at the Capulet house; to this, his friends (Mercutio and others) convince him to go with them and crash the party. When the camera changes and Juliet is shown underwater, we see her young face and the innocence that she holds. The water is a recurring theme to show a cleansing and waking up from the illusion of rivalry. At this costume or masquerade party Romeo is first under the impression of drugs, again this happens in the movie, and he begins to freak out, rushing to the bathroom, he uses water, our recurring 'wake up' and cleansing element, before seeing Juliet through a fish tank, there a lot of water in this movie clearly there is a big meaning behind the idea of water. This is the first look they have at each other, and Juliet is dressed as an angel (innocence), Romeo is a knight (Protector).The two later dance and kiss in an elevator before being separated. Later that night in the first balcony scene, Romeo learns about Juliet as she does him, deciding their names have no interest to them as to affect their new undying love for each other. In this scene, Romeo and Juliet end up both in the water (again innocent, cleansing, and rejuvenation). In the morning Romeo meers up with Friar Lawrence to ask for his permission to marry Juliet (They agreed on this in the balcony scene the night before, also the night they met.) Reluctantly he agrees, marries' them. Later Tybalt goes to speak with Romeo (Who he saw at the party but held back due to Lord Capulets insrructions), Romeo, however, is not there so Mercutio stands up and the two share crude words before Rmoeo shows up trying to calm the situation and avoid fighting. Tybalt will no longer have peace and he beings to beat Romeo, who is not fighting back. Mercutio teps in and the fight goes across the street to a run down theatre, a glass mirror breaks, and Tybalt, now loosing, uses a piece to try and stab Romeo, Mercutio stads in nteh way and gets stabbed hiself. As he is dying her refused help from Romeo (his closest friend) gets back to the beach across the road, and dies there cursing the two houses. Romeo, in a fit or rage chases Tybalt, crashes into him with his car befroe shooting him into a fountain. Romeo runs but the police show up and Benvolio (Romeo's cousin) says that it was Romeo who killed Tybalt, but that Tybalt had already killed Mercutio. THe Prince (Police cheif) banishes Romeo. To which Romeo says he would rather die so he could atleast be with Juliet, the Friar and Nurse convince him to go to Juliet to which they spend the nigth together and Romeo leaves in the morning. JUliet is then being forced to marry Paris ( a rich Bachalor) and rushed to the Friar for a solution, she then claims she would like to kill herself to be with Romeo, the Friar gives her a sleepign draftto make it look like she is dead, and he will send for Romoe so the two can run away together. Juliet agrees, takes the vile that night, and the Friar sends a essage to Romeo. Romeo never gets ther proper message and instead gets one of her acutally being dea, which she is not, he goes to an apothicary, gets poison and goes to Juleits grave. Her hten in the book fights and kills Paris in the movie just walks in and speaks to Juliet before taking the posion. Juleit wakes up just after Romeo drinks teh posion and they see each otehr for one last time and speak goodbyes befroe Romeo dies. Juliet, so distrauht kills herself soon after. 

In the movie, there is a lot of the same colors, such as orange, blue, red, black, and so forth. It seems like the whole city that they are living is supposed to be destroyed, much like an actual full war went on there. They also made costume choices that the Capulets would look more like a gang and the Montagues looked more like beach boys. They also kept it so that they Capulet mansion was much more extravagant than anything else in the movie, as far as places. The only place that could have been more overdone and extravagant would have been Juliet's funeral and the tomb where Romeo sees her. This is filled with candles but it is also in the place where she had the funeral rather than a stone tomb in a graveyard or somewhere like that. This particular version also had a lot of yelling, the characters would often yell around or over each other which made it hard to understand int he beginning sometimes, amoung that there were many dark scenes with very little light, sign it in class that didn't work because you couldn't see what was happening from your seat so you have to read the subtitles. Romeo looked quite a lot older than Juliet in many of the scenes, there was also alot of smoking in the movie, mainly the male characters, this could show a certain dominace. The Nurse wasnt as prominate intheis movie aswell, it seemed like she lacked certain lines and towards the end just started falling away.The music choices, however did fit really well especially during figth or death scenes. THe charaters didn't seems to folow very many positions on the screen that were consistat enough to call out in order to show a change or any type of power. That I din't like but Romeo and Juliet were almost always across from each other. They were the only ones that had a consistant position. 

My favorite actor in this movie was, by far, Leonardo DiCaprio. He played Romeo in the movie and was able to pull off very poetic scenes but also bring anger and dangerous tendencies during fights. It was a great balance between gentle and tough. Leonardo was amazing in his scene where he killed Tybalt because it was so raw and powerful that is actually made me freeze. He held a certian softness in parts with juleit but made subtle changes almsot when away from her and he needed to be tough and protect.He was by far the best and most believeable at being distraugth about death. When he craddled Mercutio aswell, the audice could feel his emotions from eathcing with mad the character of Romeo seems so much more realistic and he kept it from justbeing about the dea4th in the end. 

I did not really like this verson aside from Romeo (Leanardo DiCaprio) becaseu itg seemed to exajurat4ed and cheesy for me. I felt liek every one else was just kindof messing aorund andhad moments o seriousnessbut over did it alot and Romeo blended the ost seamlessly between scense so that you could follow and feel their emotions. I also thought that it was tofake looking with the scene, and was very loud. It deffinatley was a digfferentideaa about how to do Romeo and Juleit, and I am very glad taht I got to see it but it was far from my favorite version taht I have seen before.