romeo and juliet

• William Shakespeare was born

  1564
• William Shakespeare died

  1616
• Stratford-on-Avon


  Town where William Shakespeare grew up
• London


  Where William Shakespeare moved to become a playwright and actor
• Types of plays written by William Shakespeare

  • Comedy
  • Histories
  • Tragedy
• Famous plays by William Shakespeare

  • Romeo and Juliet
  • Julius Caesar
  • Hamlet
  • Macbeth
  • Othello
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream
• Sonnets


  Love poems
• Some scholars have suggested Shakespeare, who had little formal education, could not have written such powerful and creative plays
• Nobody in Shakespeare's day thought to question his authorship
• Theater in Shakespeare's time

  • Different from the theater in today's time
  • Being an actor was not regarded as a profession, actors were looked down by society
• The Globe


  Shakespeare's plays were performed in this theater, also called "The wooden O"
• Theaters had no lighting so plays were performed during the day
• There were few special effects or props, Shakespeare used detailed verbal description to paint a picture of his scenes
• Actors and Actresses in Shakespeare's time

  • It was immoral for women to act on stage, young men played the roles of women
• Elizabethan England


  The period in which Shakespeare lived, the queen influenced the content of the plays and the way they were performed
• Elizabethans believed that the earth is flat
• The four humors

  People believed that a person's mental, physical, and emotional state were determined by the balance of the four "humors" in the body: blood, yellow bile, phlegm and black bile
• Marriage in Shakespeare's time

  Generally contracts between parents, when Juliet's parents arrange a marriage for her, it seems strange to us but was completely normal for Shakespeare's audience
• Shakespeare's tragedies

  • Follow a pattern that would have made sense to his audience
  • Elizabethans believed that people's decisions and mistakes always had consequences
  • In Shakespeare's tragedies, the main characters make decisions that upset the proper order of their world and so affect them and everyone around them, the situation is resolved only when others learn lessons from the main characters' deaths
• Shakespeare's plays are not only great, powerful stories, they also teach life lessons that apply to different cultures and timelines, and those lessons can help during hard times in our lives
• Don't be alarmed by old-fashioned language, this is a play about people like us
• The play is poetry, part of what makes it beautiful, powerful, and worth reading
• Poetry is not supposed to be written exactly the way people talk
• Shakespeare's plays were meant to be performed, they were some of the most popular entertainment of their time
• Because of minimal props and scenery, the actions were portrayed by words and conversations
• Dialogue

  Conversation between characters
• Soliloquy

  Characters giving long speech, revealing their secret thoughts to the audience
• Aside

  Character will just make a brief comment to the audience that the other characters don't hear
• Shakespeare's plays have a lot of characters
• Characters in Romeo and Juliet

  • Montagues: Romeo, Montague, Lady Montague, Mercutio, Benvolio
  • Capulets: Juliet, Capulet, Lady Capulet, Tybalt, Nurse
  • The Peacemakers: The Prince of Verona, Friar Lawrence
  • The Chorus
• The Prince of Verona

  The ruler that tries to mediate the two feuding families, tired of the bloodshed caused by their "ancient grudge"
• Friar Lawrence

  The religious leader respected as a holy man by both sides, who would like to see them reconciled, interested not only in religion, but also in medicinal herbs
• The Chorus

  A "character" that is not part of the action, but a speaker who comes onstage to make comments on the action
• Theater technical vocabulary

  • Prompt Book
  • Green Room
  • Woofer
  • Boom Stand
  • Crossfader
  • Call Board
  • Front of House
  • Personal Props
  • Valence
  • Shotgun Mic
  • False Proscenium
  • Douser
  • Jackknife Platform
  • House Right
  • Floor Plan
  • Subwoofer
  • Hazer
  • Set Dressing
  • Backlight
  • Casters
  • Wing Space
  • Stock Scenery
  • Audience Blinders
  • Masking
• Event witnessed by Juliet's Nurse and Romeo's loyal servant, Balthasar

  • They plan to meet in Juliet's chamber that night
• Romeo visits

  1. His best friend Mercutio

  2. His cousin Benvolio
• Juliet's cousin, Tybalt, starts a verbal quarrel with Romeo

  It soon turns into a duel with Mercutio
• Romeo tries to stop the fight

  It is too late: Tybalt kills Mercutio
• Romeo, enraged, retaliates

  By killing Tybalt
• Friar Lawrence

  Informs Romeo that he has been banished from Verona and will be killed if he stays