production designed

The play Romeo and Juliet have many different versions including many different movie versions too. They are many versions because directors and writers are always updating the play to suit the audience and time period, this makes it easier for the audience to understand because Shakespeare was writing in 1597 and if an audience in 2016 was to read it they wont understand some parts and words.

Baz Luhrmann who is a director adapted and directed his own modern day version Romeo and Juliet, the way the filmed was designed and portrayed was very impressive because it was more appealing to the modern day audience. It was set in the 1990s and the director altered the script to suit the time for example it was set in a place called Verona Beach and the Capulet and Montague were two rivals gangs. I think this was a clever idea and by making this small but vital adaptation to the play it made it more engaging for the audience to watch. Also things like instead of swords to fight they used guns and the guns were called sword which was another clever idea by the director.

The whole concept of the play remained the same and the director followed the main story line, as for costume they were different the actors wore normal clothes like what style or fashion that period was that was the clothes they wore for example they wore suits depending on their status. I think the music was very important to the scene and the music that was used went perfectly with the scene for example the scene were Romeo and Juliet first met, the music that was playing in that scene was smooth/slow music it really set the mood and atmosphere for the scene it also helped build up the tension in the scene. Also the scene where Mercutio dies is another great example where the music captures the audience/viewer attention.

On the other hand if a theatre company did Romeo and Juliet the changes they make would vary from the changes the film made, they would stick to the script in Shakespearean language. When I saw Romeo and Juliet performed at the Royal Albert Hall, the style that they had done it in was creative and interesting unlike the movie they had dancing and singing scenes. The theatre portrayed the play in a more artistic way than the movie.  

Shakespeare in da house evaluation

My overall performance for the Shakespeare in da house project was a great experience the idea to try something new and to get out of your comfort zone was very interesting. When I first heard about the Shakespeare in da house project I was a bit sceptic to how it works but it went great and everything worked out.

We performed on in people houses which was the main purpose of the project but we always performed it in the theatre also went to Ipswich and performed there. My performance at Jamie’s house was fun and engaging, me and Jireh had to adapt our scene a little to make it worked but because we always used to rehearse in a big space and Jamie’s living was smaller than the space we normally rehearsed but we still had enough space for everything else to go as plan.
Also performing at Jamie’s house was interesting because during our scene there is a part where I start hitting Jireh with a newspaper and Jamie had a dog so when we done that scene his dog got sacred and stared barking but me and Jireh didn't lose focus and stayed in character. We kept the moment and proceeded with the scene; we didn't lose the chemistry and stayed attentive to what was happening around us.

Finally our performance was funny and interesting to watch because of our knowledge of the scene, we did our research about the play and scene and look at many different interpretations of it done but different actors in different styles. From looking at many different versions of it we then decided how we were going create our own diverse scene which included changing and redoing the scene until we felt it suited the script and the audience. We tried to make our performance comedic because it was a comedy play but not too comedic then it would look over the top and unrealistic so as well as making our scene enjoyable for the audience to watch we also made it look naturalistic.

While working on our scene we also had some draw backs for examples while researching about our scene we found how that it was to do with two sets of twins both separated when they were young and in this scene they were all together but because they didn't remember each other. At first it was a bit of a challenge to get your head around but once you got it everything made sense, so our job was to find a way how we were going to portray to the audience that there was a mix up with the twins and the whole confusion is because of mistaken identity. Watching the scene at first glance you won’t understand what’s happening unless you knew some background information about the play and scene, our solution was that before we began the scene we briefly gave the audience a little insight about the scene so that they have some understanding of what’s happening and can pick up as the scene goes on.

Some minor problems we also faced was how to direct the scene but Rob helped us out by giving us some ideas on what to do, like with the part where I needed to hit Jireh we were thinking how should present it, some examples we came up with was for me to slap him or use a prop like a fake baton etc. In the end we decided on me using a rolled up newspaper to hit him which got a great reaction from the audience when we performed it.

Personally I thought I performed well but there are also some improvements I could make such as  being louder at some parts because watching back the video of me performing I felt that at the times where I was meant to be louder I wasn't. For example there’s a part where I have to do a stage whisper and I felt that I could have gave it more work and practice it more than I done.
Another improvement I would make is that I would think more about costumes for my character because that’s one part I didn't pay much attention to and I that it could have enhanced my character more for example status and what kind of person he is.