Directing William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Imagine you are going to direct this scene for a class performance.

Explain how you want the parts of Juliet and Lady Capulet or Lord

Capulet to bring out the tension of the scene, including comments to

show how you want the audience to respond to the argument.

This play Romeo and Juliet is set in the Elizabethan times, when

Shakespeare was writing and producing plays. This particular play,

‘Romeo and Juliet’, is set in Verona, Italy. It is here; we meet the

wealthy families of Capulet and Montague families. These two

particular families have been feuding for generations upon

generations. The Capulet family holds a masquerade party, where all

are welcome except the Montague family. Romeo attends uninvited, and

it is here he meets his love; Juliet of the Capulet family. Without

their parents consent, the two teenage lovers marry, with the Juliet’s

nurse only knowing the truth. In Verona town, Mercuitio and Tybalt

fight each other, resulting in Mercutio’s death. Romeo avenges the

death of his friend, by slaying Tybalt. As a result of this, Romeo has

to flee Verona, leaving behind his wife Juliet. During Romeo’s

absence, Juliet is forced to marry Paris. We already know that Romeo

is Juliet’s husband, so she fakes her death. This is an act of

dramatic irony because the audience know something the parents don’t.

This play is classified as a tragedy, because Romeo and Juliet die for

each other, therefore ending the feud between the two families. This

play is loosely based around Elizabethan England; the Hierarchy. The

Nurse for Juliet had to fulfil a mother’s duties. She would have been

right at the bottom of the hierarchy because economically, she was

vulnerable and poor. Juliet could not marry Paris, not just because

she didn’t want to but she was already married to Romeo. As she

already has a husband, she is going against God, who was right at the

top of the hierarchy. Also at a young teenager age, it was common for

the children to be married with the parents choosing as to whom their

children should marry.

I have chosen Act 3 Scene 5 lines 126-203. In this scene, Romeo has

fled Verona, and left behind a weeping Juliet. Lady Capulet enters,

looking sad, as she is upset about the death of Tybalt. She sees a

weeping Juliet on the bed crying. Lady Capulet tells Juliet that Paris

and her are to wed on Thursday, but Juliet refuses. Juliet has a row

with her mother and father for refusing to marry Paris. Juliet cannot

obey him due to the hierarchy; she cannot marry while being married to