Draft 1 of paper

WHAT I NEED:

-Explain Romeo kneeling etc.

-Go in more depth of actions I did

-Get rid of all the story description

-Maybe focus in on certain aspects of the acting instead of going through the story-line

-Change my whole paper ughhhhh.

-Make a real thesis statement

-Finish the paper

-Do a conclusion

-Finish parts 1 and 2 of the paper

Warning- this paper is very bad. I though it was off to a good start but it was not. I hope to improve once I get feedback and spend more time organizing.

Romeo and Juliet, the vibrant and engaging play by William Shakespeare, has become a classic story today. Juliet is a character who transforms throughout the story. She represents an exaggerated version of a naive and curious teenage girl. After reworking Act II Scene II, I was able to delve into my interpretation of why Juliet reacts the way she does in each moment, as well as her raw personality and perspective. The scene I worked on allowed me to study Juliet in a stage of extreme longing and fascination for her counterpart Romeo. Portraying Juliet in this scene helped me to understand the details of her relationship, as well as how it is able to escalate quickly over a short amount of time. The balcony scene is a crucial point in the story, revealing the moment that defines what Juliet’s goal will be for the rest of the play: Being with Romeo regardless of what stands in her way. I tried to display a clear exchange and depart between Juliet and her counterpart through emotional responses.

The first moments of the scene, Juliet believes she is alone and reveals her feelings towards Romeo. What Juliet says in the few seconds she is by herself was important to me because it is the first time the audience can understand how she feels after only seeing Romeo a short time before. She is clearly invested and already devastated over the fact that she loves someone she cannot be with. The play moves quickly, so being able to clearly establish the relationship and circumstances of the characters from the beginning of the scene was crucial.

In my performance I attempted to display Juliet’s longing for Romeo by looking out into the distance, as if she was waiting for him to hear her call. I also paced back and forth to portray the nervous energy Juliet felt for loving someone she should not. When delivering the line of “Oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo…” I wanted the Juliet to seem maddened and fixated with the idea of Romeo. Since she saw him, Juliet has only thought about her love. It was important that she was interpreted as discontented without him, to make the exchange between the lovers much more satisfying. I spoke the lines in a querulous and fretful manner, dictating a sense of nervousness and almost defeat that I was alone.

As Juliet is in her own thoughts, frustrated about Romeo, she gets startled by his visit to her in the night. This is the moment that starts the anticipation for an exchange between the characters. I got a sense that Juliet was both excited and apprehensive to see Romeo. She expresses fear and concern until he assures her that his love is enough to keep him from being captured.

I blocked the scene so the characters were standing next to one another throughout the whole scene, moving away and towards each other depending on what each line calls for. (Romeo standing downstage right and Juliet downstage left.) I wanted my mannerisms and emotions to stand out as much as possible when Juliet starts to hear Romeo’s voice. I stepped away from the sound to stage right, and put a shaking hand out to guard myself from whoever was in front of me, as well as to tell Romeo to leave before he gets caught after he revealed himself. After this moment was when Juliet’s manner changed from denounced, to excitable and nervous. (talk about when romeo puts his hand out and kneels(?) and she takes away)

Juliet is embarrassed that Romeo heard her confess her love to him. She makes it clear she needs him to pronounce his love if it is true as well. When he vowed to her by “yonder blessed moon…” I stepped back with distaste and turned away from him as I explain why that upsets me. My face was tilted up and my hands thrown aggressively to my side, with a newly gained confidence. When Juliet tells him to swear by his own self, I turn back towards Romeo and kneel with him lovingly, as if the couple is going through a year’s worth of an up-and-down relationship in five minutes.

I edited Juliet’s final line to avoid the monotonous manner of the lovers’ last moments together.

“Wouldst thou withdraw it? For what purpose, love?

My bounty is as boundless as the sea,

My love as deep; the more I give to thee the,

the more I have for both are infinite.

Three words, dear Romeo, good night indeed.

If thy bent of love be honorable,

Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow,

By one that I’ll procure to come to thee,

Parting is such a sweet sorrow,

That I shall say goodnight till it be morrow.”

These lines were where I wanted the exchange between the two characters to occur. Romeo and Juliet’s relationship is very new and fragile, but also aggressive and fast paced. When I delivered these lines I felt that in order for the end of the scene to be believable, Juliet needed to be sure of herself. When I say “the more I give to thee, the more I have…” I finally reach my hand out and let Romeo take it. As if she is assuring him that she craves his love as much as he does hers. I delivered these lines as if I was happily confessing myself to Romeo, saying each line with a subtle smile, and turning my body completely towards him.