Juliet: OK. How shall react when the nurse is calling me away from Romeo?
Director: Juliet will be slightly frantic to see as much of Romeo as can she can in the last few seconds they have with each other. You should be quite careless about people seeing him but she always resorts back to her mature side and realises that they cannot take risks.
Juliet: When I first see my mother after Romeo has left am I in despair?
Director: Yes. You have just lost the love of your life and there maybe a long wait until you can see each other again, luckily for Juliet her mother thinks she is grieving for her cousin, not his murderer. I think that you should be lying down on the bed when your mother enters, as this shows that you are in despair. The way you act this interaction between the mother and the daughter has to be very specific. The audience know what you mean when you are describing your sadness to your mother but you have to mask it so it is not obvious to the character playing your mother. Also when you mother tells you: “We will have vengeance for it” talking about killing Romeo for what he has done to their family, Juliet is very cunning and has to think quickly of a way to stop her mother doing such a thing. They way you say lines 93-102 should begin slightly frenzied to think of the right way to prevent this from happening but calm into her grieving form once she has done this. Stand up while you say these lines because this is a symbolic action of trying to prevent something from happening.
Juliet: My mother tells me that I am going to be married to Paris to try and lift my spirits what should my first reaction be like, because only me and the audience know that it would be against everything I believed in to go through with the marriage.
Director: I think that you should be stunned to silence and whisper your first words which react to this “Now by Saint Peter’s Church and Peter too” as you finish your speech your voice should grow louder and more hysterical because you know how dreadful your situation has become. You should turn your back against your mother as if you are trying to block out what she is saying.
Juliet: When my father enters the scene Juliet knows that the consequences of her going against her family’s wishes are going to be much worse, am I argumentative with my father?
Director: It is not in Juliet’s character to be argumentative; she is a meek child who only wishes to please her family. However in the last few days her life has changed so rapidly and she has had to mature a lot. She would rather die than to betray her religion and Romeo by marrying Paris and so she is very strong about her views and it definite that this is something she doesn’t want to do. When your father mocks and jeers at you and calls you all sorts of cruel names “tallow face”, “disobedient wretch”, you will be deeply distressed because you are used to being your fathers little angel. You should be pleading with him to forgive you with every word that you say to him. “Good father I beseech you on my knees.” Your whole manner has changed and you should stoop your shoulders and hang your head. This will show that you are despairing after everything that has gone wrong for you and your husband.
Juliet: Once my father exits angrily and my mother wont pay me any attention I turn to my nurse, she knows everything about the situation and knows how wrong it would be for me to marry Paris. However when she tells me that it would be better for me to forget about Romeo and to do as my parents tell me I am extremely betrayed.
Director: Yes, you will feel utterly alone in the world and can hardly bear to hear the words that the nurse is saying to you. When you say the word “Amen” you should say it with an indignant tones but mask it will a more strong and understanding voice. You want the nurse to think that you agree with her and so don’t want to talk with her any more. As far as you are concerned the nurse need no longer be around as she has lost all your trust. After the nurse leaves you have a speech to the audience about how angry you are. You should say “Ancient Damnation” in a tone you have never used before in the play. You are so betrayed and irate with the nurse that you have to let your anger out. You let the audience know that the Friar is the only person you can have faith in as he was the one who married you and Romeo not so long ago, and so you are going to him to find out a solution to the problem. In your last lines of the scene you let the audience know that you are willing to end you life than to go through with your parents wishes and I think you should say the last line in an intense tone which shows how serious you are about everything.
