In my adaptation I would have all the actors as men to resemble how it would have been in Shakespearean times. To make it even more amusing I would have some characters played by the same actor; for example I would make the Nurse and Capulet be played by the same actor. I would do this because they don’t have any major scenes together and don’t speak o each other much in the play and they also have similar characteristics, one of which is that they are both important and are both figures of authority. Capulet has this trait because he is a man and is the head of his household whereas the Nurse has this feature because she is an elder and because she brought up Juliet. The Nurse brought up Juliet and therefore knows more about her than lady Capulet I know this because the Nurse has to correct lady Montague about the date of Juliet's birthday in Act 1 Scene 3. When the actor is playing the Nurse I would make him use the same body movements and gestures as when he is playing Capulet. I would also make it obvious he is a man to make it more comical. The actor playing both the Nurse and Capulet would be rather stout. I think that when playing Capulet this will make him look friendly and comical, when playing the Nurse this would also make her seem friendly but also rather approachable and innocent. I think to make the Nurse seem innocent is rather comical because in some ways she is but on the other hand she is not. She is innocent because she is elderly and mother like but she isn’t because in the play she seems to know about everything that is going on and doesn’t miss anything: for example when Romeo and Juliet meet, she is there almost instantly to say; “Madam, your mother craves a word with you.” And interrupt. The costume that Capulet would wear would be rather grand but over the top to emphasise his characters comic side. I think he would wear a suit but with a silly tie, I would make him wear a different tie for each Scene he is in. I would dress the Nurse in an innocent and plain maids outfit for when she is working and another plain casual outfit for when she isn’t. I think that the Nurse should be eccentric so I would give her some modern loop earrings and her hair would be in a very tight bun.
The protagonists Romeo and Juliet would be wearing much brighter and exciting outfits. I would make them wear clothes that are modern to today so that the audience can relate to them and can also recognise them instantly. I would give them both really happy, energetic and bubbly characters, this would hopefully reflect to the audience making them feel energetic and happy too. As before they will be played by males, Juliet would be played by a more slender male with a girlish face and Romeo by a more muscular man. I think that I would make the actors playing Romeo and Juliet gay so that chemistry is more distinguished and believable between them in the sonnet. On the other hand to make it amusing, I may give them no chemistry.
The sonnet between the protagonists is a very important part of the play. I believe Shakespeare used a sonnet (14 line poem) because they are usually associated with love. I think that another reason Shakespeare used a sonnet is because it was a very familiar rhyme scheme in those days because sonnets were very popular, because the rhyme scheme was recognisable then it meant the audience would respond to it knowing what it was. The sonnet emphasises the love and chemistry between them which is very important to portray. In my adaptation I will direct the sonnet by setting it in the middle of the party scene and to continue the comedy make everyone around them oblivious to what is going on and vice versa. To portray this I will make the camera focus on the protagonists when they are talking and make surroundings look blurred and out of focus. Also to emphasise the fact that everyone is unaware of what they are doing I will have other characters, for instance lady Capulet, the Nurse or Tybalt passing by looking for them. When the camera focuses on the other characters and what they are doing I would make Romeo and Juliet out of focus. I will try and show that the two characters complement each other perfectly to do this I make Romeo ramble on when he speaks so that he looks like he is confused, but I will make Juliet reply instantaneously so it shows she understands him perfectly. For example when Romeo rambles on in confusion “O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do; they pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.” Juliet will reply with a pleased look on her face “Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’ sake”. The commas in Romeos speech would be replaced with pauses and mumbling (err, hmm etc). When Romeo and Juliet kiss I would silence everything and slow down the speed so that the moment is waited for, then just as they kiss the sound would come back and in the background people would be cheering and letting party poppers off. I would also show a servant falling over and knocking people over in the background so that people notice the difference in tension, going from calm in a conversation to a hectic party. This would emphasise that Romeo and Juliet had forgotten everything in their one conversation and ignored the surroundings, this would show their love and how it had so quickly adapted.
The comedy that I would use in this scene would be to continue the comedy that runs throughout the whole adaptation. Shakespeare’s comedy is also used to entertain but also to relieve tension and set the scene. For example the servants arguing at the beginning of Act 1 Scene 5 is to start a party atmosphere and to open the Scene at a party tension. To Shakespeare's audience the comedy was to entertain and to keep them interested. I would direct my comedy in a much more obvious way than Shakespeare, this is because subtle comedy would not be picked up as well or understood properly. When I direct the servants arguing, I would show servants in the background stealing food and champagne and have one or two servants looking rather tipsy. The main two servants would be arguing over some cake and over whose turn it was to serve the guests. I would make the argument very hectic with servants and chefs running round behind them. I would make the speed of everything around them seem really quick, as if they were going too slow wasting time. An example of them wasting time is “Good thou, save me a piece of marchpane” the servant is more interested in getting food than getting his job done.
When Capulet welcomes his guests with his speech I would make him stand on the centre stage for a while, until eventually he raises his voice slightly and shouts “welcome, gentlemen!” Everywhere would go quiet and after a few seconds where he scans the silent room you hear someone hiccup. Eventually he continues back at a normal volume. When Capulet tells jokes I would make some people seem more like they are laughing at him, rather than with him. Capulet however would not notice as he is already slightly drunk.
The comedy in Shakespeare's play is also counteracted with tension, in Act 1 Scene 5 the beginning of the Scene has high tension while the servants argue, but is counteracted by the comedy in Capulet’s speech. I believe that Shakespeare's intentions were to keep people on edge; I think that he was making everyone wait for Romeo and Juliet's first kiss. Because he keeps increasing tension it makes people think that they will meet, but then he decreases the tension and the audience are on edge again waiting for the kiss. I think that the tension affects the present and past audiences the same, it still keeps people on edge because everyone is waiting for one of the main events. I think that directing tension will be hard in a comedy adaptation of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ because I want to have comedy throughout but that cannot happen if I want to portray tension. I think to render the tension I will have to really emphasise the changes of scene for example; at the end of Act 1 Scene 3 I will keep the conversation between lady Capulet, the Nurse and Juliet quite calm but funny and then before I go straight to the next Scene I will have a few landscape camera shots from the surrounding village where the adaptation will be filmed. Hopefully the landscape camera shots will calm the tension slightly before I go to Act 1 Scene 4 with Romeo, Benvolio and Mercutio on the way to the party.
In conclusion if I were to adapt a new version of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ then I would emphasise the tension. I would do this by making the changes in tension much more dramatic and noticeable. I would keep the tension so that it is relevant to Shakespeare's original. I would set it in a modern rural village because then I can have Capulet and Montague running for mayor therefore giving them the equal status needed. To include imagery I would have landscape shots of the village between scenes. The village would have a mansion at either end; one for each family. I would also have imagery in pictures in the mansions like pictures of the family and family trees. I would use pathetic fallacy as much as possible but I would use it oppositely to make it comical; for example if Romeo and Juliet were to kiss outside then instead of making it really sunny I would make it pour down with rain. To stop it looking too miserable I would keep it quite bright and have a rainbow.
I would keep the Shakespearean language throughout but have some modern phrases in there too; I wouldn’t put too much modern language in because it won’t make as much sense. Although changing the language to make it more modern would make it easier to follow for a modern audience it would also be difficult to translate and would take a long time. It also defies the point of it being an adaptation of Shakespeare's work because he is famous for his use of language.
