On 2/16/2016 I saw the Dallas Theater Center 's performance of Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet. This particular production of the play was preformed at the Kalita Humphreys Theater in downtown Dallas. This performance of Romeo and Juliet was a modern take on the story, while the lines remained the same, the setting, costumes, and overall attitudes of the actors presented the story in modern times. The House of Montague were presented as rockers, carrying around guitars and wearing biker jackets, while the House of Capulet were shown as being of a higher class, wearing suits and glamorous dresses. Initially, the modern take on the story threw me off guard, but as the play went on I ended up enjoying the way it was done. Rather than a story
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The floor of the stage rotated and spun allowing for seamless transitions between scenes, and in Romeo 's conversation with the Nurse was even used to preform a “walk and talk” conversation which succeeded in making it appear that the characters were traveling away while speaking with each other. During the scene of the Capulet 's ball a section of the wall was raised into the air horizontally to create a balcony which was later used for Juliet to stand on during her and Romeo 's ensuing conversation, while the showmanship of the moving wall was aesthetically pleasing, it was also very distracting until it was used for the actual purpose of acting as a balcony as I was waiting to understand the reason for it. For the scenes at the House of Montague, the play used a pool table and neon beer signs as props to make it appear as they were hanging out in a bar. This succeeded in pushing the idea that the House of Montague were more barbaric and lower class than that of the House of Capulet. The production even used the props to change the duel between Mercutio and Tybalt into a bar brawl style fight using pool cues and a knife, bringing great entertainment and holding on to the modern feel to the …show more content…
The Capulet 's ball was presented as Juliet 's sweet sixteen party in this production, during this scene the blue overhead lights lit the stage while many small light bulbs hanging from the ceiling which not only looked amazing, but gave a feel of a high school dance or prom, which was an interesting way to bring the scene to a modern setting. Many times during the play actors would go into the audience with spotlights on them in order to deliver their lines while separating their characters from the scene on the main stage. When Romeo spoke to Juliet on her balcony the actor portraying Romeo stood on one of the balconies in the audience with a soft spotlight on him while Juliet sat upon the raised wall balcony on stage with similar lighting. This succeeded not only in isolating the characters and keeping the audiences attention upon the two while they delivered their lines to each other, but also expressed the separation felt between the two characters with the conflict of their families. Sound was a prominent tool used in this production, with much attention paid to it, but not always to success. When Mercutio, Benvolio, and Romeo are performing as musicians at the Capulet 's Ball, they held and played guitars while delivering their lines in song. This approach was entertaining, sounded good, and was a fun approach on the scene, but it made it difficult to understand
The floor of the stage rotated and spun allowing for seamless transitions between scenes, and in Romeo 's conversation with the Nurse was even used to preform a “walk and talk” conversation which succeeded in making it appear that the characters were traveling away while speaking with each other. During the scene of the Capulet 's ball a section of the wall was raised into the air horizontally to create a balcony which was later used for Juliet to stand on during her and Romeo 's ensuing conversation, while the showmanship of the moving wall was aesthetically pleasing, it was also very distracting until it was used for the actual purpose of acting as a balcony as I was waiting to understand the reason for it. For the scenes at the House of Montague, the play used a pool table and neon beer signs as props to make it appear as they were hanging out in a bar. This succeeded in pushing the idea that the House of Montague were more barbaric and lower class than that of the House of Capulet. The production even used the props to change the duel between Mercutio and Tybalt into a bar brawl style fight using pool cues and a knife, bringing great entertainment and holding on to the modern feel to the …show more content…
The Capulet 's ball was presented as Juliet 's sweet sixteen party in this production, during this scene the blue overhead lights lit the stage while many small light bulbs hanging from the ceiling which not only looked amazing, but gave a feel of a high school dance or prom, which was an interesting way to bring the scene to a modern setting. Many times during the play actors would go into the audience with spotlights on them in order to deliver their lines while separating their characters from the scene on the main stage. When Romeo spoke to Juliet on her balcony the actor portraying Romeo stood on one of the balconies in the audience with a soft spotlight on him while Juliet sat upon the raised wall balcony on stage with similar lighting. This succeeded not only in isolating the characters and keeping the audiences attention upon the two while they delivered their lines to each other, but also expressed the separation felt between the two characters with the conflict of their families. Sound was a prominent tool used in this production, with much attention paid to it, but not always to success. When Mercutio, Benvolio, and Romeo are performing as musicians at the Capulet 's Ball, they held and played guitars while delivering their lines in song. This approach was entertaining, sounded good, and was a fun approach on the scene, but it made it difficult to understand