On October 21st the JMW Theater Majors went to see Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet was put on by the Brown/Trinity MFA program. In the 2nd year of the program, the students put on two Shakespearean plays simultaneously. The cast is also in rep meaning, it is the same cast of actors for both productions. For the Brown Trinity MFA program, the leads in one of the shows will be minor characters for the other. Each year the MFA program likes to feature one area of social discussion for each play. For Romeo and Juliet, they covered LGBT issues and thus Romeo and Juliet were both girls. In addition to Romeo being a girl, her best friend Benvolio was also female. The play was set in modern day Russia due to the LGBT phobia
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In order to get the feel of Russia, Ms. Teague hung a giant poster of Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, over one of the balconies. The poster was meant to symbolize Russia and the fact that Putin is allowing the violent vigilantism against homosexuals in his country. Besides the poster, the set consisted of a stationary wagon and a few black boxes. The location of the play made no sense to me. If Ms. Teague had wanted to make it obvious to the audience that the play was set in Russia, she should have done more to the set. The poster of Putin was not distracting to the actors, who were used to it, but it was very distracting for the audience. The setting of the play was poorly executed and was more of a hindrance than an aid. The concept of setting the play in Russia was a great idea but it was badly done and just didn 't work. Besides the idea of Russia the physical set itself did not contribute or take away from the mood because it was very bare bones. The set was very neutral but appropriate for a student production. The design of the stage was not particularly aesthetically pleasing because it was so bare, but it was decent for the given parameters the Ms. Teague had to work with. The lighting for the play was nonexistent, except for the balconies. The balcony lighting was ominous and helped set the scene of the play. The best part was the lighting or …show more content…
Teague had a very tight budget for Romeo and Juliet and thus she had to work with clothes the actors already had at home. Because the play was set in modern day Russia, the actors were wearing contemporary clothes but even so the costumes weren 't right for the play. I can understand how having the characters wear modern day clothes could have worked but it just gave off a very boring feel. Saying that, I did like Romeo and Juliet’s clothing because it gave the feeling that anyone would be in this situation. But for the rest of the characters I feel they could have tried harder. There were some costume differences between the minor and the major, characters especially between Lady Capulet and the rest of the characters, but that was it. The costumes much like the lighting were mediocre and boring, it just didn 't leave a lasting impact on the
In order to get the feel of Russia, Ms. Teague hung a giant poster of Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, over one of the balconies. The poster was meant to symbolize Russia and the fact that Putin is allowing the violent vigilantism against homosexuals in his country. Besides the poster, the set consisted of a stationary wagon and a few black boxes. The location of the play made no sense to me. If Ms. Teague had wanted to make it obvious to the audience that the play was set in Russia, she should have done more to the set. The poster of Putin was not distracting to the actors, who were used to it, but it was very distracting for the audience. The setting of the play was poorly executed and was more of a hindrance than an aid. The concept of setting the play in Russia was a great idea but it was badly done and just didn 't work. Besides the idea of Russia the physical set itself did not contribute or take away from the mood because it was very bare bones. The set was very neutral but appropriate for a student production. The design of the stage was not particularly aesthetically pleasing because it was so bare, but it was decent for the given parameters the Ms. Teague had to work with. The lighting for the play was nonexistent, except for the balconies. The balcony lighting was ominous and helped set the scene of the play. The best part was the lighting or …show more content…
Teague had a very tight budget for Romeo and Juliet and thus she had to work with clothes the actors already had at home. Because the play was set in modern day Russia, the actors were wearing contemporary clothes but even so the costumes weren 't right for the play. I can understand how having the characters wear modern day clothes could have worked but it just gave off a very boring feel. Saying that, I did like Romeo and Juliet’s clothing because it gave the feeling that anyone would be in this situation. But for the rest of the characters I feel they could have tried harder. There were some costume differences between the minor and the major, characters especially between Lady Capulet and the rest of the characters, but that was it. The costumes much like the lighting were mediocre and boring, it just didn 't leave a lasting impact on the