Staging William Shakespeare's Act Three Scene Five of Romeo and Juliet

Staging William Shakespeare's Act Three Scene Five of Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is about two feuding families, the Montagues and the

Capulets. The Montague's son, Romeo and the Capulet's daughter Juliet

fall in love with one another, however their love for one another must

be concealed as the families would not approve.

The beginning of Act 3 Scene 5 is set on the balcony of Juliet's

bedroom in the family house situated in Verona, Italy. This version of

the play will be set in the same period as when it was written. The

clothes that Romeo and Juliet wear are made of rich materials. Romeo

will wear a frilly shirt, waistcoat, tight leggings and a sheet of

material draped over his shoulders held in place by a gold brooch.

Juliet is wearing a white silky bed gown in this scene due to the fact

that she has just woken up.

Juliet's bedroom is decorated in dark terracotta with a large, dark

brown, oak sleigh bed in the centre of the room with elegant materials

covering the bed such as silk and linens. Also over the top of the bed

is a canopy, once again dark and rich materials, to symbolise her

family's wealth. Around the room there is dark furniture to match the

bed, such as a dressing table with a large ovular gold rimmed mirror,

and dark floor to ceiling wardrobes that have large panes of mirrors

embedded into the doors. Juliet's bedroom is raised on a separate

level to the stage some six foot high to show to the audience Juliet's

bedroom is on the second floor of the house. There will be left two or

three metres to the front of the stage for Romeo to be able manoeuvre

his way off the main stage half way through the scene. The ...

... middle of paper ...

...refers to Rome as good

as dead

"Your first is dead or 'twere as good he were",

Juliet looks away from the nurse with horror and then in a very

sarcastic manner says

"Well thou hast comforted me, marvellous much"

Juliet seeing that she is not going to get her own way tells her nurse

to go and tell her mother that she has gone to confession, whilst

pointing at her bedroom door, as she continues to plot her escape with

Romeo. The nurse replies by telling her that she would marry Paris

rather than Romeo as she thinks that would be the right thing to do,

"Marry I will, and this is wisely done"

The Nurse stands up from the bed and takes her leave. Juliet then says

"If all else fails, myself have the power to die"

meaning that if she can never marry Romeo then she is capable of

taking her own life.