My scenes and the improvement <3

This is the first IB exam project that I am doing, and also the third scene works we worked as a group. Because this year is the first year that I get in touch with performance, so first of all that I attempt to work on is how to get more comfortable on the stage. This is also what my dear English teacher wrote about me in the comment of first quarter. She said "I have slowly gotten more comfortable on stage, and that made a big difference in what you can accomplish in my scenes". 

I have never experienced about acting and staging before, so it is really fresh for me. And the most important thing is that I am getting use to it. For example, I can control not to laugh in the performance when the script is really funny, the face to the audience, the voice, tone, and also how to use body language like what we did in public speaking also. So I guess this is one of the most important part that I am attempting to accomplish in the performance class. Because I am poor on the skills of acting, so get more relax and natural is required to make a good scene. The things that I get succeed I guess is about the setting. Although I am not the person who wrote the script directly, but I participate more and more, and then I can give more ideas. For example, I am good at the sense of humor a little bit, so when we are trying to make the scene funny, I can provide some funny ideas and ways to act. I know my English skills still need to be improved a lot, so I think participate more is the way to get it better. I can do better in memorize the lines of the script, then I don't have to be that hurry and nervous when the lines goes on my part. I think the "professional actors" in our school plays are good. Then even can adapt the scene when they are acting several times in a row. 

I think the progress about the rehearses and final draft is important, and interesting too. For a scene, I believe we can't do it better only by memorize the scripts well. We need a lot of time to adapt into the emotional style of the scene, then we can put our emotion in the play to make it real, and live. We also need to set in the characters. For example, my role of the Romeo in the third scene, my lines are made to make the play funny. They background music and the acting of Tybalt and Mercutio are serious and nervous, but when I came in the stage, the music changes into a peaceful and funny one. I speak a lot in one time and try to make it boring, like an old professor having science class or something. Then the two fighters are pretending that they are sleepy and boring. I tried several times to make it adapt well in the play, so the progress of rehearses are important. 

How may I improve in my scene??

I was surprised about how successfully we did about our scene in the first draft. I feel happy because we did work a lot and now we deserve to have the "payment". But as a purpose to make it better and better, we still have a lot of things to work on. For example, it is always better for us to memorize the scripts and lines that we have. Because if we can perform without the sheet with script, then we can focus more on our acting. Also the accuracy about our acting. It provides the high quality of our play. 

In another way, our setting can be improve also. For example, in the first scene our background music, the club music is too loud compare to our scene, then the audience couldn't hear it clearly. Then we need to act it more naturally. Our ideas are perfect and funny I believe, and now it only take time our progress of acting.    

My role of the script

As our setting and the roles of the play, there are three scenes of our play, and we have Romeo as the main character for all three of them. We have 4 people in the group and 3 of us are male, so we play Romeo for each scene one by one. In the first two scenes there's not any other players should exist in the scene, so other actors of our group are participating as "environment". For example in the first meet scene which we set in some place like a club, the other actors are pretending that they are drunk and mess up the talk between Romeo and Juliet. So obviously, our work is to make the scene as funny as we can! It is a kind of creative subject that we are doing, and the best way to make it and adapt it better is to make it funny, as a style through all of the play.  

Scripts that we will do))

Scene 1.5

In this scene, we are going to show the scene that Romeo and Juliet first meet each other. 

Settings: Club, LOUD MUSIC, CROWD

Characters: Romeo(James), Juliet(Olivia)

Costumes: Casual

At least five people are acting funny. 

Romeo is talking to his friends. He saw Juliet and came to her. 

Because of the loud music, people can't really hear each other. Romeo and Juliet repeat the lines again and again. Juliet shakes Romeo. People are dancing. Romeo’s friends make fun of Romeo.

R: My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand. To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.

J: Good pilgrim. For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch, and palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.

R: Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too? 

J: Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.

R: O then, let lips do what hands do 

J: Saints do not move.

R: Then move not. 

(He kisses her) 

my sin is purged 

J: Then have my lips the sin that they have took. 

R: Sin from my lips? Give me my sin again. 

(Kiss again)

(Juliet exits)

2.2 

Juliet acts creepy(obsessed with Romeo)

J: O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name. What’s in a name? Romeo would, were he not Romeo called, retain that dear perfection which he owes without that title. 

R: I take thee at thy word! 

(Runs to Juliet’s house and climbs up to the balcony) 

Music: Mission Impossible

I never will be Romeo! (his face and clothes are dirty)

J: (Juliet shocked as hell) What man art thou that? So stumblest on my counsel? 

Art thou not Romeo and a Montague?

R: Neither. If either thee dislike.

J: (Worried, and shocked) the place death, considering who thou art, if any of my kinsmen find thee here. 

R: Thy kinsmen no stop to me.

J: They will murder you thee!

(Nurse calls from within) 

(Romeo is frightened and tries to hide somewhere)

J: Stay but a little, I will come again.

(Juliet exits)

R: O blessed, blessed night! 

(3 seconds later she comes back)

Three words, dear Romeo, and good night indeed. 

R: If my heart’s dear love...

(from inside) Nurse: Madam! 

(Romeo is frightened again and almost crying)

J: I come---- A thousand times good night.

(She exits) 

Scene 3.1

Characters: Romeo(Joseph), Mercutio(James), Tybalt(Ryan). 

(though it is modern time period, they use sword to fight)

Walk in peacefully. (With a good mood)

Tybalt: Gentlemen, Good e’en. 

M: Make it a word and blow. 

T: You shall find me apt enough to that sir, an you will give me occasion. Mercutio, thou consortest with Romeo. 

M: What? dost thou make us minstrels? An thou make minstrels of us, look to hear nothing but discords. Here’s my fiddlestick ; here’s that shall make you dance. Zounds , consort!

M: Well, peace be with you, sir. Here comes my man . Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford No better term than this: thou art a villain.

Romeo walks in

R: Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee Doth much excuse the appertaining rage To such a greeting. Villain am I none. Therefore farewell. I see thou knowest me not. 

M: Tybalt, you rat catcher , will you walk? 

T: What wouldst thou have with me? 

Start fighting

R: Tybalt, Mercutio, The Prince expressly hath forbid this bandying in Verona streets. 

Romeo holds Mercutio.

Tybalt stabs Mercutio. 

M: I am hurt. A plague o’ both houses! I am sped .’tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as the church's door. M Why the devil came you between us? I was hurt under your arm.
I thought all for the best.

R: This day’s black fate on more days doth depend . This but begins the woe others must end. Now, Tybalt, take the “villain” back again That late thou gavest me, for Mercutio’s soul. 

T: Thou wretched boy that didst consort him here Shalt with him hence.

They fight, Romeo stabs tybalt. 
Remember: when Romeo stabs SLOW MOTION 
Tybalt dies. 
Romeo is horrified, and he runs away. 

About the scenesss

Our group is really "unique and creative" in adaptation I guess. Under the lead of Olivia, we will change the set of the play Romeo and Juliet. According to the project, we will make it into a comedy, irony, sarcasm and make it as a modern setting. We may not have that kind of ability to make the script changed into a comedy, (actually we are not allowed to change the script either). So play and act in a irony way is what we should do. Probably we can act it "fate" or in an opposite way? This is what we should discuss about. We can find more interesting characteristics from the play I believe. For example Romeo and his immature, Tybalt and his aggressive, Mercurtio and his funny of expression. 

The scenes that we will make are the Scene from the play 1.5 first meet, 2.2 balcony and 3.1the fight scene. The purpose of our play is to make these three scenes connected and funny in another way. For example, the way our main characters "immature" can be set as " Immature boy and a rebel hip-pop girl Juliet". There are so many ways and chance for us to find the "the point of funny" in modern sets. And also some kinds of Shakespeare's humorous. For example when Romeo always try to say "Tybalt I love you with your family name" but finally he finishes Tybalt's life. 

We have four people in the group: Ryan, Olivia, me Joseph and James. I will play Tybalt, James for Mercutio, Olivia for Juliet and Ryan for Romeo. The lines and the exact scripts we will discuss more tomorrow in class.   

Ideas of scenessssss

1. Mercutio and Tybalt's death 

I will talk about how their death brings up the bad ending of the play. The first bloody event. And it starts to push the play into a tragedy. 

2. Romeo and Juliet's death

It does make the string and the style of the play. Either a tragedy or a comedy. It can be transformed into a totally opposite one. 

3. belcony scene 

The evidence of how Romeo and Juliet fall in love for real. Why we see this as the point of the play into "burning point". Romeo and Juliet's love are being proved. 

The immortal tragedy

Romeo and Juliet is an eternal story. It is well known in every parts of the world, and it is famous by its sad tragic ending. A pair of young lovers, sacrificed with their lives for their blazing true love. This story is like a model of extreme love, and it brings up a doubt about if it is worth to sacrificed for love, for relationship. Maybe "born shiny like the flower in May, and die like the falling leaves in autumn" is some people's  personal belief. But here, I want to discuss about is Romeo and Juliet's tragedy  was the result of fate and uncontrollable forces, or was the outcome a result of circumstance and strong personalities? 

I believe it is the result of fate and uncontrollable force, but I think circumstance was responsible for the tragedy too. The play of Romeo and Juliet was written by Shakespeare in 1595. It was a great a time for the western world to make literature products. But it was a tough time for people to live too. Just two years before the play was written, there was a huge plague happened in Europe. Under the horror of the "black death", any plague that were happened are related to darkness, hopeless and death directly. So the shadow of plague is hidden in the play. I guess this is the reason why the ending was a tragedy in that play. 

In the play, the characters are symbolic too. Our main characters, Romeo and Juliet are young. Juliet is about 13 years old, and Romeo is only couple years older than them. Although at that time , people marry much more early than our modern days, but they are still too immature. They are too young to have a relationship, to fall in love and the most important part: too young to take the responsibilities that they should take. They thought love is a simple thing as the game they played when they were young, " pretending that they are couples, or family members". We can't look forward a pair of teenagers to manage their relationships well, even they are trying to get married. If you let me to make a metaphor about their behavior, I would say they are like the Adam and Eve who tried to eat the forbidden fruit. And unfortunately they got their punishment: death.

I would say from the setting of the play we can see this is a tragic play. "In the ancient city of Verona in Italy, there were two biggest, strongest families in there. They are enemy, for centuries. Their feud would be solved only by blood and death." And unfortunately, always unfortunately, the two poor young lovers are from the enemy families. It seems like it is impossible for them to get together, even there's no chance for them to meet and know each other. But dramatically, they did figure out all of the "impossibilities". Maybe only god, or Shakespeare knows how this happen. Especially in that time period, there was not any thing like "free love, free relationship" happened. Youths didn't have that much freedom for them to choose their partners. Even they "fall in love" with someone, but the only thing they can do is to follow what their family require them to do. 

For all the factors that was impossible to be happened, it must be a tragedy if something shouldn't be combined but it did. It was just like their destiny, they are born to be together, try to get together and die together. Just like the butterflies, they admire light, and want abandon to darkness forever. Yes, forever. There's only one way to be with the light forever: Bathing in the blaze, let the holy fire clean their souls, and give them freedom to love, in the immortality.