Olivia Cao
Ms. Guarino
IB Literature and Performance SL
12 November 2015
Sarcasm and Comedy
Have you ever thought that someday one of the most classic tragedies become a modern comedy? Or have you thought about a different way for Juliet to say:"Romeo, Romeo, wherefore thee art Romeo?" When people mention Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet always comes into mind immediately. Romeo and Juliet was written in the early career of Shakespeare, but it is one of the most well-known tragedies in the world. When people think of Romeo and Juliet, they always feel mournful about the pitiful and romantic story. However, Romance is not the only theme of Romeo and Juliet; in modern people’s eyes, this story is more unrealistic. From they first meet to the tragic ending, this whole story is too dramatic to believe. To show an unique side of this classic play, we directed a comedic version of Romeo and Juliet, and we set the stage in modern times to show this tragedy from a modern perspective. We picked three significant scenes: Act 1 scene 5(the scene that they first meet); Act 2 scene 2(the balcony scene, which is the most romantic scene); Act 3 scene 1(the fighting scene, which is a big turning point). Unlike most of the tragedy versions of Romeo and Juliet, our performance showed the sarcastic side of their love and extreme immaturity of Romeo. To achieve the goals, we staged the scene in modern times, designed a more rebellious personality for Juliet, and used contrasting and exaggerated music to highlight the comedy theme.
If we looked at this tragedy through a modern person’s eyes, we would see this love story was so ridiculous that it would never happen. In the first scene, Romeo and Juliet met in a loud club. Logically, no one looks for his true love in a club, but Romeo did. Also, it is almost impossible to fall in love with someone in such a short time. In the scene, Romeo and Juliet are no longer shy and naive; both of them enjoy the party. Romeo was attracted by Juliet’s beauty, and he came to flirt with her. Juliet acted frivolously and flirted back. It is difficult for our actors to express the sarcastic emotions and say the romantic words at the same time, because we cannot change the lines. For example, Juliet acted frivolously when she said:“Saints do not move”, and after Romeo kissed Juliet, he just winked at his friends, like exactly what jerks do. Thus, since they first meet, it is a mistake. Moreover, in the balcony scene, Romeo went to Capulets’ house to find Juliet. He climbed up to the balcony with the Mission Impossible music. At this time, Romeo seems so brave. When Juliet told him the place was dangerous and people would kill him, he said that: “The kinsmen no stop to me!” However, when nurse called Juliet, Romeo was extremely terrified. He hid under the table and put his hands over his ears. The actor acted extremely exaggeratedly, and this makes the audience believe Romeo’s changeable love. When he faces Juliet, he makes himself be a brave and lovely man who can do anything for his love. However, that is not true; he does not love Juliet that much. He is still afraid of letting others find their secret love, and he still puts himself above his love. During the whole performance, balcony scene plays an important role, which can show the audience that their love is not pure and real. In summary, from a modern perspective, this story is not logical, and it will never happen in real life.
Secondly, this play also shows Romeo’s immature personality and behaviors. Whether in the original text or our adapted version, Romeo is always an immature character. However, in this comedic version, we emphasize his personality. Also, there was a contrast of Romeo and Juliet. In the first scene, Romeo and Juliet both play with each other. In another word, they are the same kind of people. However, in the second scene, Juliet changes; she starts to be mature after she falls in love with Romeo. Through Romeo and Juliet’s different behaviors in Scene one and Scene two, the audience is able to see Juliet’s change, but Romeo just remains the same. For instance, when Juliet was complaining about Romeo’s family name and how hard their love was, Romeo was so hotheaded that he said: “I take thy word! I never will be Romeo. ” We took this line from the original text, nevertheless, the way the actor said this line is interesting. The actor said this line loudly, and he acted like he was going to fight in a war. This actually makes the plot so funny, and we also emphasize Romeo’s naive characteristics. Romeo denied his name without even one-second-thinking, and he climbed on the balcony immediately. Love is the only thing in Romeo’s eyes, and he can easily abandon his family for his “true love”. Moreover, in the last fighting scene, when Tybalt and Mercutio were about to fight, Romeo came, which was an extremely bad time. Then, Romeo tried to convince Mercutio and Tybalt to drop their weapons, however he did not help at all. The irony plot is when Romeo started his long “lecture style speech”, Tybalt and Mercutio put their swords back, and with the peaceful music, they almost fell asleep. Then, when Tybalt and Mercutio were fighting, he did not help, but yelled at them. Romeo is like a little child. When he is in trouble, he does not know how to handle the mess. The only thing he can do is to yell and cry. As a result, his friend, Mercutio died. In addition, Mercutio also reflects Romeo’s characteristics. People always say that friends are like mirrors; you can see yourself through them. Before the fight, Mercutio acted brave; he even described Tybalt as a “ratcatcher”. The actor acted like a drunk man, with the alcohol, a drunk man can say anything he wants to say but not take responsibilities. He describes himself as brave as he can, and he says Tybalt is a coward. However, when he was stabbed, he cried, and he blamed on Romeo. The actor acted like a little baby who was crying to his parents for no reason. With a soft music, this farce and the big contrast make most of the audience laugh. In another word, Mercutio is actually a giant when he speaks, but a coward when he really gets into troubles. Moreover, these unreasonable behaviors are exactly what Romeo did in the balcony scene. What they said and what they finally did were totally different. Beneath the fancy words, they are just two cowards. From Romeo’s friend, Mercutio, the audience is able to see how immature Romeo is. Consequently, Romeo’s sarcastic side was what we want to show the audience, and we achieve this goal successfully.
To adopt a classic romantic tragedy to a modern comedy, we have to change the settings of the whole story to a modern comedic background and the shy Juliet to a playgirl. Firstly, this story happened in modern times. The actors wore modern clothes, instead of Middle ages costumes. Also, the way they behaved and spoke was modernized, even though we still kept the lines from the original text. For example, in the fist scene, people were dancing with hands up, like exactly what modern people do in clubs, instead of the classical couple dancing. In addition, after Romeo kissed Juliet, he was exited. Then he high five with his friends, like what teenagers do now. Secondly, we added funny plots as many as possible. For instance, in the original text, nobody could see each other's faces clearly in the party, and this was romantic. However, in the club, because of the loud music, they could not hear each other. Romeo and Juliet just repeated their words again and again, like old people, and this change made the scene so hilarious. Also, in the balcony scene, Romeo climbed on the balcony, which was so funny. He looked around while he was climbing exaggeratedly, and he was not good-looking at all. In addition, the Mission Impossible music just made Romeo look like a thief or a spy. When Juliet saw him, she was so terrified that she fell on the ground and almost fainted. This should be a romantic scene that Romeo overcame the difficulties to see Juliet, but we just adapted it into a farce. Thirdly, we also change Juliet’s personality; in our play, Juliet is not shy at all. In the first scene, Juliet just flirted with Romeo. In the second scene, when Juliet was speaking on the balcony, she did not act romantically, instead, Juliet freaked out. She stamped her feet and tore her hair, like a willful kid who did not get his favorite toy. This setting was a huge difference from other versions of Romeo and Julie. Consequently, these huge changes on stage and characters actually made the play more funny and unique.
Music also played an important role in our scene. It showed the audience the settings, and we also changed the relaxing and the intense music to show the atmosphere and the contrasts. First of all, we used music to highlight our settings. For instance, our first scene was staged in a loud club. If we only danced on the stage, the audience must feel bored and confused. Then we came up with an idea that we used loud club music to show our settings. It worked well, especially with the actors’ exaggerated dancing. Secondly, the change of the songs was an important highlight in our scene. In the fighting scene, when Tybalt and Mercutio were quarreling, the music was so intense. However, when Romeo came, exactly when he started his “speech”, the music suddenly was changed to a extremely relaxing music. Moreover, the music was well-known; it was one of the songs in Sponge Bob, the cartoon. This song emphasized how funny Romeo was, and the song was actually a lullaby for Tybalt and Mercutio. Then, when Romeo finished his long “speech”, the intense music was suddenly changed back. This actually woke Tybalt and Mercutio up, and they got ready to fight immediately. Also, when Tybalt stabbed Mercutio, the music became relaxing again. With the hilarious music, almost everyone laughed. In short, music did not only show people the settings, but also made our scene funnier, especially the change between intense and relaxing music.
In conclusion, to show our feelings to the audience is one of the most important task for directors and actors. I think it is ridiculous and sarcastic when I read the story of Romeo and Juliet, and I want to show my ideas to more people. My partners and I then adopted it to a comedy. In our scene,we show the sarcastic side of the story and the immaturity of Romeo. To adopt a successful comedy, a good stage was necessary. To show a modern perspective, we staged the scene in modern time; to show a contrast between Romeo and Juliet, we designed a new rebel characteristic for Juliet. Also, music was a big part in the scene. It was used to show the settings, and we also showed the funny side of the fighting scene by using the contrasting music. This comedic version was not only funny, it also showed a unique sarcastic perspective of Romeo and Juliet.
