Examine two film versions of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, focusing on the balcony scene, compare how the directors have translated the play to the screen and state your preference.

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Examine two film versions of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, focusing on the balcony scene, compare how the directors have translated the play to the screen and state your preference.

William Shakespeare is one of the world’s best-known dramatists with plays such as Hamlet and Mid Summer’s Nights Dream. However probably his best-known theatrical production is that of the tragic love story of Romeo Montique and Juliet Capulet, two young teenagers in love, with the problem of bitterness between their two families.  Before about thirty years ago only people who attended the theatre could witness this wonderful production that was until a director by the name of Franco Zeffirelli changed that.  He produced a film of Shakespeare’s play.  About thirty years later another director by the name of Baz Lurhmann also produced the film Romeo and Juliet however his version was different in the sense that he had created the film so that it would match the surroundings of today’s society.  

The settings of the two films’ balcony scenes are different, Zeffirelli’s version has the traditional Orchard scene whereas Lurhmann has still the same scene only it is set at the swimming pool of Juliet’s house.  The swimming pool in Lurhmann’s film would probably have been the equivalent to the orchard in Juliet’s garden in Zeffirelli’s traditional version.  

In the traditional version Romeo enters the Capulet garden surrounded by foliage and this shows the risk that Romeo is taking by entering the garden because the shrubbery acts as a camouflage, hiding Romeo from anyone who would be in the garden.  However in the modern version Romeo enters the garden by climbing over a wall and then creeps across the poolside trying to hide from the security cameras.  Also in the modern version Lurhmann tries to change the “balcony scene” to a scene by the poolside where Juliet enters from the lift, which she descends to the same level as Romeo, at this point she still does not know that Romeo is present in her garden.  In Zeffirelli’s version Juliet remains on a higher level than Romeo in the traditional balcony.  

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In Zeffirelli’s version there is slow background music whereas Lurhmann’s remake has no music at all at this point in the scene.  However there are sounds of insects and an owl hooting.  At the beginning of the traditional scene there are sounds of church bells ringing when Juliet appears looking dreamy wearing her night attire, which is low-cut.  In Lurhmann’s film the security lights are switched on, probably by a sensor, as Romeo makes his way to the Capulet’s house.  The swimming pool is overly ornate with an abundance of statues.  Whereas in the traditional version the balcony has ...

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