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.