Adaption of Romeo and Juliet

http://youtu.be/M_XRwNfbwls
Group members:
James(Romeo)
Leo(Juliet)
Olivia
Lucie

A Hilarious Scene in The Tragedy

Romeo and Juliet is a famous play, and almost every person knows it. Most people know the main characters, the ending and some of the dramatic scenes, however, only a few people know that there is an interesting woman in the play, the Nurse. My favorite play is neither dramatic nor well-known; it is just a normal conversation which happens to Juliet, her mother and the nurse. Her mother calls Juliet, and she tries to convince Juliet to marry Paris. However, the nurse keeps talking until Juliet stops her. I like scene three of act one, because it is so funny that I feel interesting but sad.

First of all, this scene is hilarious; it makes me laugh several times. In the scene, when Lady Capulet tries to talk to Juliet, she does not want the nurse to hear it, so she closes the door. However, she changes her mind immediately, therefore, she just opens the door again and lets the nurse come in. Since I started reading this book, this is the first time that I feel it is interesting, and I can picture the scene clearly in my mind. Also, it is so funny that the nurse just keeps talking and talking. After she says:“Peace. I have done. ”(line 64), she still cannot stop. It is so funny, because my grandmother is exactly like the nurse. Thus, when I read these lines, my grandmother came into my mind. I can picture the funny scene, and it makes me laugh. In summary, I like this funny scene; it is like a shiny and interesting star in the dark and heavy sky.

Secondly, it also makes me feel upset, because this scene is so warm that I do not even want to think about the ending. In this scene, the readers can see how much the nurse cares and loves Juliet. The nurse says: “God mark thee to his grace, Thou wast the prettiest babe that e’er I nursed. An I might live to see thee married once. I have my wish.” (line 64-67) I think her daughter might die in an accident, and she actually regards Juliet as her own daughter. She cares about Juliet, so as a mother, she would like to see Juliet marries to an outstanding man and gets happiness. The nurse has already lost many things, then she will lose Juliet, “the prettiest babe”. Juliet will die; it is so cruel for the nurse. The girl she nurses for years will perish, and nothing will be left, except memories. I feel so sad, and I do not even want to read the ending. Consequently, I like this scene, because I can truly feel the love of the nurse, and her love actually makes me feel sad.

 In conclusion, this scene seems like a normal and boring scene, but it expresses the true emotions from little details. These details remind me of my own experience, which is so funny. Also, the emotions are so true that I can even feel it through reading. How much the nurse loves Juliet is how much it hurts when Juliet is taken away; it makes me so sad. This scene describes some little things in Juliet’s life, nonetheless, these little details actually make readers feel the real emotions that the characters have. 

In class writing

In these lines, Juliet expressed her love and confusion to Romeo. Juliet loved Romeo, but Montague was too hard to her. However, he already fell in love with Romeo, so these lines also implied that she would die with Romeo.

In-class Writing

There were two servants fighting first, but then Abram and Benvolio came. They wanted to stop the fight, but they joined the fight. Then there were more and more people joining the fight, and finally it became a mess. Luckily, the prince came at last, and he finally stopped the fight. The prince knew about the hate between Capulet and Montague, so he talked to both sides and wares them. 

Benvolio asked Romeo why he was so depressed for Romeo’s parents, but Romeo did not answer. Romeo told Benvolio fight was not right, they should not let the hate ruin their love. 

Paris and Caput had a talk. Paris wanted to marry Juliet, but Capulet thought Juliet was too young to marry. Paris should wait for another two years. Finally, Capulet invited Paris to the ball, and he would introduce Juliet to Paris. Also, Romeo and Benvolio were also going to the ball. 

More than just Love Story

If somebody tell me to think of one of Shakespeare’s dramas, the first name came into my mind must be Romeo and Juliet, because it is so classic and famous. It is a love story between a boy and a girl, Romeo and Juliet. Before I read this play, I just thought that this was a boring romantic story, but after reading the act one, I now know this is actually more than just love story. This is a story between a childish, immature but romantic boy and a pure and naive girl. 

First of all, before I read this book, I only heard a few things of this story, and from this play, I know some differences between eastern people’s beliefs of love and western people’s beliefs. Romeo and Juliet are both from wealthy families, and they fall in love with each other. However, the dramatic thing is they cannot be together, because their families are enemies. Romeo and Juliet are so sad about this, so they try everything they can do to be together. At last, they choose to be a couple in the heaven; they end their young lives for love. This story is famous as one of the most popular tragedies of Shakespeare. In China, there is a story which is similar to Romeo and Juliet, but the ending of that story is quite different. In the Chinese story, at last, the couple kill themselves, but they became a pair of butterflies. In eastern culture, butterflies represent beauty and love, and the ending represents eastern people's, exactly Chinese people’s beliefs of love. Compare to Romeo and Juliet, eastern people’s beliefs of love are more mythic unrealistic, and western people’s beliefs are more dramatic and realistic. In summary, almost every country has a similar romantic story, but they are also very different, because they all represent different culture. 

Secondly, in the play, Romeo is handsome, amorous, poetic, romantic and sometimes childish; Juliet is beautiful, kind, strong-minded and sometimes willful. Actually, Romeo is many girls’ dream lover, because he is handsome and romantic. In the play, since the first time Romeo shows up, he has always been so romantic and poetic. “Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs; Being perked, a fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes”, Romeo says. (Romeo and Juliet, page 12) When Romeo says this, he is in love with Roseline, and he is lovesick badly. However, after he meets Juliet, he just regards Juliet as his only true love. He changes so fast, and this represents his personalities: romantic, amorous, poetic, but sometimes childish. Compare to Romeo, Juliet is more quiet. Juliet is such a beautiful girl, and she is also a very kind person. When she talks to Nurse, she behaves nicely and politely. She does not demand Nurse; she says: “I pray thee”. (Romeo and Juliet, page 16)Also, Juliet is a strong-minded woman. When her mother and Nurse convince her to marry the good man, Paris, she just say: “I’ll look to like, if looking liking move. But no more deep will I end art mine eye than your consent gives strength to make ‘it’ fly”. (Romeo and Juliet, page 16)Juliet has her own mind, and she has her own ideas about her marriage. However, sometimes Juliet behaves willfully, because she is strong-minded. Even though Romeo and Juliet are both born in big and wealth families, they all have pure souls. They want to get rid of the family issues and the endless hate, so they choose to kill themselves to end these. To conclude, Romeo and Juliet are both special but very similar, that’s why they match perfectly. 

In conclusion, as a famous play, everyone knows it, however, the details are actually the sparkles of this play. Everyone knows that Romeo is handsome and romantic; Juliet is beautiful and kind. However, Romeo is also poetic and childish; Juliet is also strong-minded and willful. Even though other materials tell people much about this impressive play, people still have to explore this couple’s pure souls by themselves. 

Everyone is Christopher

Olivia Cao

13 September 2015

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a famous book, and its play version is also popular all over the world. Mark Hadden wrote the book, and Simon Stephens adapted this story to a play version. The book tells us a story about a boy, Christopher, his parents, and a dead dog. In the play, Marianne Elliott was the director, and this team really brought some new ideas for this story. They made several good choices, but what I’m talking about is the biggest decision they made, which allowed this play to achieve a big success. The team made themselves be Christopher, because they really wanted the audience to feel they were also Christopher. 

The team felt they were Christopher, and they made this play extremely real. The director said that this story was a personal story, and everything was seen from Christopher’s eyes. (Marianne Elliott, Working on the Spectrum) Thus, they made themselves be Christopher, and they tried to think the way Christopher thought. To achieve this goal, they even hired an autism consultant to assist them to know Christopher and his thinking way. She gave the team much useful psychological help, which made Christopher’s characteristics more lively. For example, when Christopher arrived the Paddington Station, he was lost and confused. This was because Christopher never traveled by himself, and the station was so noisy. The noise and busy circumstance made Christopher nervous, and he could not filter out that much information. (Robyn Steward, Working on the Spectrum) Without the consultant’s analysis, I could not even understand why he was confused. After studying, the team, especially the actor, Luke knew exactly how Christopher felt at that time, so they made the scene very realistic and impressing. I think as a performer, the biggest achievement is to get the audience into the story, and this team actually made me “breath the same air that Christopher does”. (Marianne Elliott, Working on the Spectrum) In my opinion, I was completely impressed by this decision and the team’s professionalism. Indeed, they made a right decision, because everyone in the team was truly into the role. They made the play lively, in another word, they just put Christopher’s life on the stage. According to the above evidences, this decision made the play more realistic, and this allowed the audience to feel they were also in the story, not just a listener. 

In conclusion, it was so incredible that the team made the play this realistic. They felt themselves were Christopher, and they tried to imitated Christopher’s special thinking way. They got to know Christopher by studying autism, and they finally became Christopher. A bunch of people tries to perform this famous play every year, big or small, famous or ordinary, but why was this version so impressing? This is because the team actually brought the audience to the play. It was so realistic that they were not acting anything, they were putting their life on the stage, because they were Christopher. 

Citation: 

1. "Working on the Spectrum: The Making of Curious Incident and the Dog in the Night-Time." National Theatre. National Theatre, n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2015.

Different? Also Similar

We are human beings, and no one can live without art. Everything is related to art, such as clothes, TV shows, or packages of foods. Actually, when we mention art, the word “literature” came into my mind immediately. Literature was “writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest, are characteristic or essential features, as poetry, novels, history, biography, and essays”; Dictionary says this is literature. Literature can relate to a performance, because a performance is actually based on literature. Novel also counts as a kind of literature, and it’s quite different from a play. 

Literature appears everywhere in a performance, but a performance cannot be displaced by literature. A performance is a “musical, dramatic, or other entertainment presented before an audience”. Literature and performances are similar. FirstLY, they both are versions of art. Secondly, they are both created by people and for people to appreciate. The difference is that performances show the audience, and literature show the people who read the materials. Thirdly, they are similar but different, because performances are based on literature. Generally, every performance has scripts and dialogues. These things can be counted as literature, because they are writings in expressions which are characteristic. However, they are also different; a good performance always has more than just literature, because the real setup, sounds or lights do not totally come from scripts, from literature. For example, we had a little play for the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. We had the scripts which included dialogues and stage directions. We read every word from the scripts; we all had a view of that scene in our mind. Lucie thought Roger was cutting things in the kitchen, but I thought Roger was also eating. We read the same material, but everyone had a different thought about the setup. This is the difference between literature and a performance; performances can show things more visually. According to the above evidences, literature and performances are similar, but they are also quite different. 

Plays and novels are common in our life; they are also have similarities and differences. A play is “a dramatic performance, as on the stage”, and a novel is a “fictitious prose narrative of considerable length and complexity, portraying characters and usually presenting a sequential organization of action and scenes”, says Dictionary. First of all, they both narrate stories, but they use different ways to express the stories. Novels are a kind of literature, and they are writings. Plays are considered as performances, because audiences are often there and plays are held on the stage. Thus, people read novel and watch plays; they use different ways to appreciate them. Second, plays and novels are similar, because plays often contain novels. Because they both narrate stories, we can read the scripts of plays like reading novels. Also, some plays are adapted from novels. Thus, they are similar. To conclude, plays and novels are similar but different, I’d like to say that they are like brother and sister. 

In conclusion, there are several versions of arts, such as performances, literature, plays, and novels. Thereinto, plays can be considered as performances, and novels are a kind of literature. These four things are extremely unique.They have similarities, but they will never be displaced by each other, because they are also different. 

Citation

1. "novel." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 9 Sep. 2015. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/novel>.

2. "literature." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 9 Sep. 2015. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/literature>.

3. "play." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 9 Sep. 2015. <Dictionary.comhttp://dictionary.reference.com/browse/play>. 

3. "performance." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 9 Sep. 2015. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/performance>.

In class writing

A script helps reading and getting to know the play easily, but it cannot be a performance or a play. It is just a part of a play, so we say script is less than a play. When we call something a play, it is an ideal artwork, however, there are some special situations during the performance, such as actors forgetting the script, or the lights having some problems. A production is composed by script, play, and these little things. Thus, "a production is more".

We always want our life to be so smooth and easy; we go to school, eat, and sleep. However, something always happens. You meet new friends; you raise a pet. These things are the little sparkles in our life. Our every day life is actually like a performance; we are the writers, directors, and the actors.