Directing Juliets Long Soliloquy Essay -- Drama

How would you direct Juliets long soliloquy in Act 4 let on air 3 on aShakespearean stage, conveying Juliets nightmarish terror andindecisiveness?My staging of Act 4 Scene 3 will try the major themes which arecontinued in the play as a whole whap, fate and violence. Both Romeoand Juliet are sometimes depicted as pawns of fate unable(p) to escapetheir destiny, yet in this scene as I wish to stage it, I want to showthat Juliet, following the Friars plan, takes a step towards ever-changingthat destiny. She does this out of love for Romeo and to escape thedespair brought on by what she thinks will be a loveless marriage toParis. Juliet is in the grip of very watertight emotions and in this sceneher morbid fantasies about tombs and spectres take a boisterous turn,showing the violence of her feelings and assert of mind.It seems strange that most modern productions omit this scene, better-lookingonly the first and last lines. The last line too is given in variousversions. Do the d irectors think that this death bed soliloquy - forthat is what it turns out to be - from the heroine, is too wordy andthat modern audiences can non interpret the violent images she talksabout without the images themselves before their eyes? Or do theythink that such violent emotions are uncharacteristic of Juliet andare out of place?In my production I intend to combine the powerful words of thedistraught Juliet with the inclusion of optical images to producemaximum impact. In order to help the Shakespearean audience visualiseJuliets words, I will place actors as ghosts and spectres acting outher fantasies in the gallery as she speaks the lines.On a Shakespearean stage the scenery was minimal, as were the props,so the contemporary audience relied on the words, clothing and theactor a lot more than we would normally do now. As the director, Iwould ask the young actor playing Juliet to be wearing a yellow downhearted night gown of the era. This would indicate to theaudience that in the play it is currently night time and that Julietis in her chambers (because a respectable girl would not be outside inher night clothes). The Shakespearean audience was very superstitious,so Juliet wearing a night gown that is yellow would also portray tothem ideas of optimism. Also, along the ideas of superstition, I wouldwant the vial to be red, ... ...loor of the gallery, where he has been waiting. Tybalt should lookextremely menacing and threatening towards the crowd. As soon asJuliet says O look I want the actor playing Romeo to appear on thegallery, next to Tybalt. While Juliet is speaking the next lines theyshould fight with rapiers. At the precise moment that Juliet says the import stay, I want Tybalt to stab Romeo, and then for all theactors on the upper stage to collapse to floor so they are not seen.I believe that in the staging of this scene, with actors acting outJuliets fantasies as she says them, I have exploited the fullpotential of the Elizabethan stage. Since thei r access to props and light was limited, words had to convey the idea of action, but bycombining verbal and visual I wanted to maximise the impact of thewords. Juliets highly emotional state is shown by her restlessmovements over the stage and her imaginings are portrayed in thegallery above. The violence shown throughout the play is mirrored herein Juliets words. Her love for Romeo is the cause of the scene butthe audience knows that in the end it is all futile since Juliet andRomeo are star-crossed lovers.