The purpose of this assignment is to write a set of director’s notes for the characters in act one scene V. These are Romeo, Juliet, Tybalt and lord Capulet. I will explain and explore the characters and their relationships with other characters in the scene. Also what effects their actions in the scene have on the rest of the play.
In this scene the character Romeo appears to have a very defying and cheeky attitude as he is in the heart of his sworn enemies. He is enjoying himself as much as everyone else at the expense of his enemies. He seems very relaxed and calm, mingling with other guests. When Romeo lays his eyes on Juliet he almost becomes stunned like he is in a trance. The language he uses while describing Juliet is very romantic and shows deep emotion felt for her. I would make the actor be very light footed and cheerful. Almost prancing around. When he sees Juliet he must always keep staring at her and he must follow her around the hall weaving in and out of people very smoothly and without a break in his stare.
In this scene Juliet seems to not be excited like everyone else about the ball altogether. She confides in her room until wandering out onto the balcony, looking very bored and sad. I would ask the actor to walk slowly but very elegantly onto the balcony. She seems to change her moods when she sees Romeo. She like Romeo seems to be in a trance and must keep her stare with Romeo. As soon as she sees Romeo she has a rush of feelings and so the actor must change to fit these feelings. For instance she should start to walk faster maybe craning her neck to see Romeo.
Tybalt plays a large part in this scene. Instead of adding love and harmony to the scene he brings anger and violence. Before he hears of Romeo being at the ball he is very calm and is just like any other guest. As soon as he is informed that Romeo is at the ball he is overcome with anger. The actor would have to change his facial expression and posture here. He has nothing but hate for Romeo and the Montague’s altogether. He cannot hold back his feelings and is only stopped from a confrontation by Lord Capulet. The actor must over egaterate his anger by pacing furiously and cussing a lot.
The host of the great ball is Lord Capulet who is the head of the Capulet family. He is also the uncle of Tybalt and the father of Juliet. He is mingling with all of the guests calmly encouraging dancing and also wants Juliet to fraternise with Paris who he would like to be her husband. In theory he would be really angry if he discovered that Romeo was at his ball but this is not the case. He finds out from Tybalt that Romeo is there but is not angry but seems not to be to worried. He trys to calm Tybalt down and reason with him. Lord Capulet does not see any harm in Romeo being there. The actor must try and be very reasoning but still trying to show his power over Tybalt by also using his posture and tone of voice.
