Forced Entertainment – Romeo and Juliet (Tabletop Shakespeare)
To me what makes a piece of art visually striking or not is how it challenges the idea of space. How can actors, puppets, or scenery change my impression of the venue? How can imagery immerse its audience into the world of the performance? Forced Entertainment offers a new answer to these questions by using common household items to illustrate one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies, Romeo and Juliet. I am very familiar with the original text of Romeo and Juliet and I happen to have an unhealthy appreciation for Baz Luhrmann’s film verision of the play. However, I had yet to experience any sort of puppetry in Shakespeare, let alone common household objects being used to enact any sort of theatrical narrative. The photograph of the performance, that I have included, shows the narrator, Terry O’Connor, as she places the prince (a metal thermos) into the Montague/Capulet fray from Act I. All of the objects are spread out upon a simple wooden table. Behind the table is the narrator in a simple, all black outfit. Behind the narrator is a black curtain. What is not included in the picture are the stage left and stage right simple …show more content…
Because the audience is getting the details of action from a narrator they begin to form biased opinions. Forced Entertainment seems to play with how they want their audience to react during this event. O’Connor gives very little information on Paris; she speaks for him in quick, simple remarks although he could be a sympathetic character. Instead O’Connor focuses all of the action around Romeo, even Juliet is someone slanted as O’Connor gives her neutral movements and an easy way of speaking. When O’Connor voices Romeo or reacts to Romeo it is as if she is talking about a son. She sighs for him, she caresses him, as an audience member I felt anguished for Romeo only through her own empathy for
To me what makes a piece of art visually striking or not is how it challenges the idea of space. How can actors, puppets, or scenery change my impression of the venue? How can imagery immerse its audience into the world of the performance? Forced Entertainment offers a new answer to these questions by using common household items to illustrate one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies, Romeo and Juliet. I am very familiar with the original text of Romeo and Juliet and I happen to have an unhealthy appreciation for Baz Luhrmann’s film verision of the play. However, I had yet to experience any sort of puppetry in Shakespeare, let alone common household objects being used to enact any sort of theatrical narrative. The photograph of the performance, that I have included, shows the narrator, Terry O’Connor, as she places the prince (a metal thermos) into the Montague/Capulet fray from Act I. All of the objects are spread out upon a simple wooden table. Behind the table is the narrator in a simple, all black outfit. Behind the narrator is a black curtain. What is not included in the picture are the stage left and stage right simple …show more content…
Because the audience is getting the details of action from a narrator they begin to form biased opinions. Forced Entertainment seems to play with how they want their audience to react during this event. O’Connor gives very little information on Paris; she speaks for him in quick, simple remarks although he could be a sympathetic character. Instead O’Connor focuses all of the action around Romeo, even Juliet is someone slanted as O’Connor gives her neutral movements and an easy way of speaking. When O’Connor voices Romeo or reacts to Romeo it is as if she is talking about a son. She sighs for him, she caresses him, as an audience member I felt anguished for Romeo only through her own empathy for