Shakespeare students began their work today on Romeo and Juliet with the two households prologue, hurling insults, the opening thumb-biting scene, the holy palmer’s sonnet and the balcony scene.
We watched a clip of the balcony scene from the 1996 Baz Luhrmann film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. In this modernization of the play the balcony scene takes place in a pool. Here is a video of the making of that scene, including rehearsals and all of the technical details that went into filming underwater.
Shakespeare can be interpreted and presented in many different ways. Here is the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s take on Romeo and Juliet.
For next week, the older group should continue working on either the opening prologue or the thumb-biting scene. Extra credit: write a sonnet. More about sonnets in the next post.
Bravo to everyone who braved the storm and made it to the preliminary round of the Pittsburgh Public Theater’s Shakespeare Monologue and Scene Contest. The Showcase of Finalists is on Friday, February 19 at 4 pm at the O’Reilly Theater.