Blog #7

Our group chose Romeo, Juliet, Friar Lawrence, Tybalt, Nurse, Mercutio, Lady Capulet, Lord Capulet, Prince and Paris to be in our cast. We chose Romeo and Juliet because they are the main characters in the play. If the play is put on without any main character, it will not make any sense to the audience. Moreover, Romeo and Juliet are the representatives of the two houses in the play. The relationship they have can compare and contrast with the relationship between the two houses to show the main conflict in the show-the hatred between Capulets and Montagues. We chose Friar Lawrence to join the cast because we think he is involved in most of the main events in the play: Romeo and Juliet’s marriage, plan with Juliet to fake the death and also to explain the truth to everyone in the end. We chose Tybalt and Mercutio to be in the cast because the fight between them not only showed the violent conflict between each other the most directly but also caused Romeo’s banishment. Because of Mercutio’s death, Romeo killed Tybalt and was banished. Because of the Banishment, Romeo can’t communicate with Juliet and Friar successfully and killed himself. The nurse is in the cast because she is the only person that Juliet talks to besides Romeo most times. The nurse is also the closest person to Juliet rather than Juliet’s parents. With nurse’s help, Romeo and Juliet could contact with each other and even got married. Lady Capulet and the Lord Capulet are significant because they are the people that have been giving Juliet Pressure and push her further and further away from themselves. The prince is the person who’s in charge of Verona and give punishments to people when they don’t behave well. He also made a significant decision: to banish Romeo from Verona. Therefore, we pick the prince to be in the cast. Paris is in the cast because of Juliet’s parents, mainly the Lord Capulet had lots conversation with him about his marriage with Juliet. Because Lord Capulet said to him and Juliet will marry him, Lord Capulet can’t destroy his own promise and just forced Juliet to marry Paris. Otherwise, Lord Capulet will not rise her any more and will let her die in the streets.

We leaved out Benvolio because he only had little conversation with Romeo and Mercutio in the beginning in the play and eventually faded away from the play. We also leaved out Romeo’s parents because of their lack of conversation with Romeo. They didn’t get much involved into Romeo and Juliet’s relationship at all. Some characters can be referred to and doesn’t have to be on stage for their character to function for the storyline, therefore, we leaved out those characters also.

Romeo will give his rose to Juliet to show his love to her. The rose also refer to Romeo's romantic way of talking. Juliet has the ring to show her relationship to Romeo. Also, for Juliet, it is very important for her that she’s married to Romeo. She’s not a small girl anymore and she can do anything for her royal love, including sacrificing her own life. Friar will use his Bible to help finish the wedding of Romeo and Juliet. The Bible also keeps him kind and want to help this poor couple to get together. Tybalt will use his sword to fight, killing all his enemies. Mercutio will not only use his sword to fight enemies, but also play around with it when he hang out with Romeo to show his characteristics: funny, crazy, passionate. His sword will also be used by Romeo to kill Tybalt, revenging for him. The aspirin will help the audience to understand the nurse’s role and explain why she’s so close to Juliet a little. Juliet’s mother has the high heels that will make her looks pretty and high-class. Looking pretty is more of a responsibility she has as the wife of Lord Capulet. The Lord Capulet will have the 100k diamond ring to show his richness and dominance in the Capulet family. The Prince will have the crown to show his royalty and power in Verona. Paris will have the mirror and confident smile to show his happiness of marrying Juliet and the good feelings about himself too.

To have exchanging and reusing of items will have express the relationships among the characters. Therefore, the play will be more organized and connected. Having items for every person will also help the audience to distinguish every character and part of their characteristics when they all dress the same on the stage.

I want David to be Friar Lawrence because he looks calm all the time and that makes people feel comfortable talking to him about their sadness and get some advise from him. Josh will be a good Lord Capulet because he is always really free on the stage and speaks loudly. Lord Capulet has a big vioce over any other character in the play. The actor of his character must aggressive and relaxed on the stage in order to show the dominance of Lord Capulet. I think Helen will play a good Lady Capulet. Jo-mo will be great playing Tybalt. He can act really agressive too. And he looks strong and active, just like a skilled fighter. These are the characters that I think will fit to my classmates.