My First Performance Log

Day One: Wednesday, October 26th

Today, Julia and I worked on developing our characters so we could understand them better and therefore play them more effectively. We asked ourselves what each character's motivation was for each action that they did. For example, when Juliet sees Romeo dead next to her, she kills herself with his dagger because there was no poison left over. Juliet wanted to kill herself because she could not imagine a world where she lived without Romeo. In her eyes, Romeo was her whole life, especially now that she was married to him. As an actor, I have to show that to the audience mainly through my body language and eye movements. Not taking my gaze off him during that scene is a potential way of showing this. Another possibility would be to look everywhere but at Romeo. This could show that she is overwhelmed by his death and is looking to outside sources for help on what to do. Juliet has not made many important choices by herself so it would seem likely that it would be difficult for her to make this decision. But to try this path, in the end, Juliet would have to be seen as ignoring all her other worries and killing herself because of her love for Romeo. That change is significant because the audience needs to know that she is conflicted, but being in love with Romeo will always win out.

Day Two: Thursday, October 27th

Today, the main focus was our lines. Julia and I worked to become more familiar with them, and even start to memorize them. We also watched various versions of the scenes being acted out on YouTube. I thought that this was especially helpful for a few reasons. Firstly, because many of the adaptations I watched had the same lines, it was good to hear the line being spoken by someone new. It helped to hear the pauses and also connect various facial expressions to different parts of the monologues. It was also very interesting to see the various ways that different directors chose to block the scene and with which set. Some versions had a very simple set with just a bed-like structure that served as the tomb, others had a more elaborate set-up, similar to something found on a movie set. Watching the actors interact with the space that they have was cool too. Also, the chemistry between the two actors was also very clear. The eyes of an actor are very telling of the true emotions of the character. I think that in the death scene, this is very important. Juliet cannot be looking all around the tomb when she sees that Romeo has died; it needs to be clear that Romeo is the only thing that she cared about. Another thing is that  because the majority of our adaptation has one character talking to an unresponsive character, the way that the actor, basically reacted to what she is saying is crucial. The actor has no one else to ‘feed’ off of so they need to be the one providing all the energy and emotion.    

What Goes into a Effective Scene

The very last scene of Romeo and Juliet is one of one of the most important scenes of the whole play. It concludes their whole story with the death of the two lovers. In this scene, I will be playing Juliet. She does many different things and she has a very specific reason for everything that she does. For example, in our adaption of the scene, we added the part when Juliet takes the potion in the room. This is very important. The basic motivation for taking the potion is to fall asleep so she can get out of marrying Paris and eventually be with Romeo. But there’s a lot more underneath the surface. Juliet is nervous about taking the potion for a few reasons. Firstly, she knows that there is no way of knowing for sure if Friar Lawrence’s potion will do what he says it will. In the scene, she wonders if Friar Lawrence wants her to die because he was the one who married the two of them. She also thinks about what will happen if Romeo is not there when she wakes up. It is clear she has doubts about what will happen. And this is a defining moment in her life. One could say that she has not ever made such a big decision in her whole life. I think that she knows the effect that this decision will make on both her life and of those around her. She purposely overlooks the fact that her family will be devastated with her ‘death.’ As someone who is used to pleasing everyone else around her, faking her own ‘death’ is a big decision. It shows the lengths to which she is willing to go for Romeo. But in the end, she takes the potion. This shows that she truly wants to be with Romeo and that she will do basically anything to achieve. It shows how much she loves him. Also, the fact that she was all alone in her room was somewhat significant. She knows that she needs to be the one who makes the decision for herself.

As an actor, knowing where a certain character comes from is very important in portraying a character correctly. The audience needs to be able to see all these emotions in whoever is playing Juliet. It allows the audience to further understand the deeper meaning of the scene. I think that Juliet needs to be seen as truly conflicted. The audience needs to see her going back and forth between her options. The audience also needs to see the longing that she has for Romeo. She obviously truly loves him because she willing to go through all this for him. Her age is also a factor. Sometimes, we forget how young Juliet really is. Her youth is an important part of the way that she makes decisions. Looking into the distance could signify thoughtfulness to the audience. There are many parts to a certain scene. The motivations of a certain character as well as his or her background or past plays an important role in a certain character’s thoughts, words, and even actions. These are very clear, if only an actor takes the time to think about it.

Thoughts on Acting Theorists

Over the past few days, I learned a lot about the various theorists that contributed to the acting world as we see it today.  Constantin Stanislavski was a big supporter of analyzing you as an actor in the role of your character. His seven main questions to ask yourself as an actor really help you dig deeper into the character that you must play. This is very similar to Uta Hagen's way of commanding actors to dig deep into the personality and background to understand where and why what they are doing is significant. All this helps an actor react onstage and be able to portray their character effectively. This creates the world of the play so the audience does not realize that they are watching a play. They just sucked into the universe of the the production. This is what makes a successful play.

Viola Spolin: A Woman Who Changed the Way Theater is Taught

Viola Spolin:

• Served as drama supervisor @ place in Chicago similar to Parks. & Rec.
• Needed a way to cross over cultural/ethnic background
• Created these simple games to play which helped w/ creativity, diff. parts of a play, a way to get someone to express themselves
• “When I had a problem [directing], I made up a game. When another problem came up, I just made up a new game.” -Viola Spolin  (Interview,Los Angeles Times, May 26 , 1974)
• Went on to do workshops about these games, improv
• Published numerous books about her games/improv/ways to get people involved
• Games happened in theater context but meant to calm actors down
• Increased self-awareness
• Bring group together
• Each game has its own problem/focus for group to work on
• Used games solve problems
• Allowed people to express themselves in a way that wasn’t too ‘outgoing’
• Don’t have to have ‘talent’ to act/do the games
• Space replaces costumes/props/music (basically everything but the actors)
• “A system of actor training that uses games she devised to organically teach the formal rules of the theater”
• Key phrases for the games:
• Physicalization: showing not telling
• Spontaneity
• Intuition: basically trusting your gut/instinct
• Audience
• Transformation
• Participation
• Sources:
• http://spolin.com/?page_id=212

http://www.violaspolin.org/bio/

Scene 5.3: Possible Props/Staging

Possible Props:

• Dagger (Juliet)
• Bed/Tomb area
• Poison (Romeo)
• Potion (Juliet)

Possible Staging:

• Juliet taking Poison: Juliet sitting on Bed/Tomb with Dagger, Potion

Says lines while gesturing to Dagger, Potion

Drinks Potion, falls onto Bed/Tomb

Does not move while Romeo says his lines

• Romeo dragging Paris in: Invisible object he is dragging, Talking to himself/audience?

Leaves Paris when he sees Juliet on Bed/Tomb

Says his lines, sitting next to Juliet, looking at her, touching as necessary

Takes Poison, falls onto Bed/Tomb, lying next to Juliet

• Juliet killing herself: Wakes up to see Romeo lying next to her

Calls out to emptiness of Tomb but does not get out of Bed/Tomb or out of her position

Says lines to Romeo/audience?

Uses Dagger to kill herself, falls back onto Bed/Tomb next to Romeo

Scene 5.3: Lines

Juliet:

I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins,
That almost freezes up the heat of life.
I’ll call them back again to comfort me.
Nurse!—What should she do here?
My dismal scene I needs must act alone.
Come, vial.
What if this mixture do not work at all?
Shall I be married then tomorrow morning?
No, no, this shall forbid it. Lie thou there.
(Laying down her dagger.)
What if it be a poison which the friar
Subtly hath minist’red to have me dead,
Lest in this marriage he should be dishonor’d
Because he married me before to Romeo?
I fear it is, and yet methinks it should not,
For he hath still been tried a holy man.
How if, when I am laid into the tomb,
I wake before the time that Romeo
Come to redeem me? There’s a fearful point!
Shall I not then be stifled in the vault,
To whose foul mouth no healthsome air breathes in,
And there die strangled ere my Romeo comes?
Or if I live, is it not very like
The horrible conceit of death and night,
Together with the terror of the place—
As in a vault, an ancient receptacle,
O, if I wake, shall I not be distraught,
And madly play with my forefathers’ joints,
As with a club, dash out my desp’rate brains?
O, look! Methinks I see my cousin’s ghost
Seeking out Romeo, that did spit his body
Upon a rapier’s point. Stay, Tybalt, stay!
Romeo, Romeo, Romeo! Here’s drink—I drink to thee.
(She falls upon her bed)

Romeo:

Let me peruse this face.
Mercutio’s kinsman, noble County Paris!
I think
He told me Paris should have married Juliet.
Said he not so? Or did I dream it so?
Or am I mad, hearing him talk of Juliet,
To think it was so? O, give me thy hand,
One writ with me in sour misfortune’s book!
For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes
This vault a feasting presence full of light.

(Laying Paris in the tomb)

O my love, my wife,
Death, that hath suck’d the honey of thy breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty:
Thou art not conquer’d, beauty’s ensign yet
Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,
And death’s pale flag is not advanced there.
Ah, dear Juliet,
Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe
That unsubstantial Death is amorous,
And that the lean abhorred monster keeps
Thee here in dark to be his paramour?
For fear of that, I still will stay with thee,
And never from this palace of dim night
Depart again. Here, here will I remain
With worms that are thy chambermaids; O, here
Will I set up my everlasting rest,
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last!
Arms, take your last embrace! And, lips, O you
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
A dateless bargain to engrossing death!
Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavory guide!
Here’s to my love!
(Drinks poison)

O true apothecary!
Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.
(Dies.)

(Juliet rises.)

Juliet:

Where is my lord?
I do remember well where I should be,
And there I am. Where is my Romeo?
(sees Romeo)

What’s here? A cup clos’d in my true love’s hand?
Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end.
O churl, drunk all, and left no friendly drop
To help me after? I will kiss thy lips,
Haply some poison yet doth hang on them,
To make me die with a restorative.
Thy lips are warm.

(hears noise outside)

Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger,
(Taking dagger.)

This is thy sheath;
(Stabs herself.)

there rust, and let me die.
(Falls on Romeo’s body and dies.)

Adapting a Shakespearean Play Into a Movie

The last two acts of Romeo and Juliet contain many of the scenes that first come to mind when someone first thinks about this play. The setting of the entire adaptation takes place in New York which makes the setting more relatable to today’s world. But, one thing that I liked about Lurhmann’s adaptation was that he kept the majority of the lines the same as the original. I, personally, think that Shakespeare’s have certain poetry and voice to them that makes it special. Although it may not be as easy to understand, I think that if you take the time to interpret the lines, you are able to see why Shakespeare was so special. I also think the actors spoke the lines very effectively. Putting the emphasis in the right places and acting out the emotions involved really helps the audience grasp the meaning.

The death scene of Romeo and Juliet was one scene that I thought was particularly different in its adaptation. In the play, Juliet is in the family tomb. I pictured that scene as one dark room where Paris is lying on the ground dead, while Romeo and Juliet are having their scene. In the adaptation, Romeo encounters Paris outside the hall where Juliet is laid. When he goes in, it is a brightly lit room with bright crosses, candles, and flowers everywhere. I think this is where the modernization comes in. It reminded me of what a funeral looks like today with all the flowers from various admirers and such. The brighter lights also give clarity to the scene and is a contrast to what I would imagine as a family tomb in Shakespeare’s time. It also looks like Juliet is up on an altar as well. This seems to imply a sense of importance.

           The very last exchange between the two lead characters is the most different from the play (or at least how I pictured it). In the play, I imagines Romeo saying his last lines, drinking the potion and then when he is still, Juliet wakes up to find him already dead. The movie makes a daring change by allowing Romeo and Juliet to see each other before the potion activates. This provides a sense of lost hope for their relationship because they were so close. For the few seconds before Romeo drinks the potion, and Juliet starts to wake up, you want to believe that Romeo will look down to Juliet, see her alive, and everything will be okay. But then, he drinks the potion, only then does he see Juliet awake. By slightly changing such an iconic scene like this, the movie makers wanted the audience to believe maybe, just this once, Romeo and Juliet can have their happy ending, even though they know how the story ends every time. This makes audience feel more deeply for Juliet and why she killed herself because she knew how close she was to having her happy ending. It makes the audience realize how much the odd were not in their favor. They had so many obstacles in their way, their families’ feud, Juliet getting married, Romeo getting banished, and despite all that they were able to get to that point when they were in each other’s arms and have it all taken away from them is horrible to think about. It further emphasizes the point that they really are trying to go against fate to make their love work out. Lastly, it leaves the audience wondering what their relationship could have been if Romeo had just looked down earlier or if Juliet had said something to him. I think that the last scene is a great example of how different producers can take different takes on a scene that is so well-known and still make the audience be on the edge of their seat.

The Art of World Building

The activities that we did in class throughout this week have only reinforced what I already knew about world building. World building is a very important part of a successful play. The two parts of the play that I was working on showed me that there is more to a single part of the play than what meets the eye. I worked on ‘language’ and ‘change.’ At first, I thought that language was just the manner of the words that the author used, but it was much more than that. The characters who talked a certain way gave details about themselves. For example, I found that the lower class citizens often did not talk in verse. This showed that verse was saved for the upper class. It showed the difference in their social standing. Another example is rhyme. In the play, Friar Lawrence says “The grey-ey’d morn smiles on the frowning night,/ Check’ring the Eastern clouds with streaks of light,/ And fleckled darkness like a drunkard reels/ From forth day’s path and Titan’s fiery wheels ” (2.3.1-4).  Although it may not stand out when someone is reading it, when spoken and performed, the rhyme scheme is very clear. We noticed the Prince also talks with a rhyme scheme. This shows to the audience that people in authority and who have power are the ones who use rhyme. It makes this characters stand out. As actors, being familiar with these subtle details about characters allows them to be able to better portray them.

On the first two days, we focused on different parts of the play, but the last two days, we mostly looked at the play as a whole and how different elements changed over the course of the play. I think that this is something that is sometimes overlooked by many actors. It is very important to be able to see and understand the entire play and how every line and action fits into the bigger picture. Also, knowing how each character changes and why they change is very important. I was able to see this when I worked on the ‘change’ poster. As a group, Abby, Chantelle and I were able to see how different characters changed over the course of the play, and more importantly, why they changed. This more important because as an actor and even just a reader, the thoughts behind an action or such a drastic change is important. Like I said before, it just helps further portray a character better. 

The overall image of the different sections of the play also changed a lot. The image group in our class showed that in a very effective way; through pictures. We were able to easily see the ways that the main images changed. For example, the beginning involved a lot of fighting between the two families. As the play progressed, we were able how Romeo and Juliet’s love was affected by events caused by their families’ rivalry. I thought it was very interesting that the group drew the ending idea as a dove carrying a skull and crossbones on a string. This exemplified the events perfectly because the dove represents the peace that was finally achieved by the two families, but the skull showed the mean of that peace; the death of two of their children. This week, I learned a lot about how every aspect of a production of a play, whether it’s the music or the character development or the setting, it all comes together to create the world of the play. This knowledge and way of thinking will be something that I will carry over for the rest of this class as well as any productions of scenes or plays that we will do.

Act Four/Five Reading Notes

Act Four:

Scene 1:

• Friar doesn’t like idea of quick marriage
• Paris comes to set date
• Juliet comes & has weird banter w/ Paris about confessing, love
• J. starts crying & being sad after he leaves, brings out knife (for death)
• Friar tells J. to;
• Be ok w/ marrying Paris
• Drink potion to look dead
• He will call Romeo

Scene 2:

• Lo. C. getting ready for wedding
• J. tells Lo. C. she’s ready to get married
• Lo. C. really happy about ^^

Scene 3:

• J. wants Nurse + La. C. to stay away tonight
• J. gets worried/sad when they leave, scared b/c potion in vial
• Finally drinks b/c she saw Tybalt’s ghost? (saw a sign?)

Scene 4:

• Everyone getting ready for wedding

Scene 5:

• Nurse, La. C. going to wake up J., realize that J. is dead
• Lo. C. tells Paris about J.
• Everyone talks at once out of grief (staging note)
• Friar trying to comfort them by saying it’s ‘God’s will’
• Interaction w/ musicians, Peter = Peter bullying/pushing down musicians

Act Five:

Scene 1:

• R. hears about J. & his family from Balthasar
• R. wants to be w/ J.
• Goes to apothecary to give/create potion for death
• Potion-maker gives him death potion b/c he needs the $$

Scene 2:

• Friar John couldn’t go to R. w/letter b/c of sickness spreading
• Friar Law. tries to fix by keeping J. w/him & writing to R. again

Scene 3:

• Paris goes to tomb, really sad b/c of J.
• Moves away when he hears someone coming

• R. gives Balth. letter to explain to Lo./La. M., & tells him not to bother him
• Balth. Stays

• Paris goes to confront R.
• R. kills Paris who wanted to die near J.
• R. drinks potion & dies
• Friar finds Balth. outside 1st, then goes to tomb alone
• J. wakes up when Friar is there who blames R.’s death on higher forces
• J. kills herself w/dagger when she hears voices coming

• Watchmen tells everyone to stay until Prince comes who tries to find out what happned
• Parents of both kids are very sad
• Friar realizes how guilty he looks, & tells them everything
• Prince has a ‘trial’ right there in tomb
• Lo. C. starts w/ handshake to Lo. M. but M. says he’ll raise up J.’s name
• Prince gets last word, Town has peace