Group5

Group 5 should create its page here
 * Reed - set design and what the scene would look like
 * Izzy - Costume design
 * Kylie - Casting

__**Concept Statement**__ Hi you guys! It's Izzy, sorry I'm so late with this. So just to clarify, our general idea consists of the following (correct me if I'm wrong, please) Just one more question to answer regarding our concept statement. Why is our updated version appropriate to the text of //Romeo and Juliet?// Also, what scene are we doing? 1.1, 3.1, or 5.3?
 * The Montagues are a German regiment occupying a French town during WWII and the Capulets are a local French family trying to rebel.
 * The Prince is an administrator of some sort (perhaps a mayor/authority figure who's afraid of the German?)
 * Romeo is an occupying general
 * Juliet is a local farm girl

Correcting an above point, Romeo is a private in his regiment, Montague is the captain. I also am personally in favor of working on 5.3, as that scene has the most action to work with, will fit our choice of period nicely, and will offer a wide variety of possibilities in terms of artistic interpretation while we work on the other aspects of the project. Are we in agreement?

Okay, Izzy again. Just one question. Romeo is still the son of Montague correct? And yes, doing 5.3 does fit our time period very nicely and I think the weapons should be changed to guns since they seem more appropriate for the time period

I don't think Romeo should be the son of Montague. Remeber, they are no longer a family, they have a new type of relationship, that of a military unit. This can give them an even stronger bond.

I think a big part of the book is that Romeo and Juliet defy their parents for their love. Also, the relationship among soldiers fighting along side each other resemble that of brothers, but I don't think the relationship a private has with his superior is similar to a father- son relationship. Also, how should Juliet be related to Capulet... would being part of the same resistance group show a strong enough bond? --kylie

I think Romeo should definitely be the son of Montague because, as Kylie said, the relationship is not the same as a father-son. He could be the son of Montague forced into fighting because his father is such an influential character, but in reality, he hates fighting. And as for Juliet, she can be the daughter of the leader of the resisting family. The fact that they are breaking the trusts of their families plays a big part in the lovers' relationship and the tragedy of the play and I think it's important we keep that aspect. -Izzy

Okay I made a description of each character based on their parts in 5.3, but I still need to find actors to match them. Let me know what you think!! -Kylie


 * Balthasar (David Henrie- sidekick movies, in between a boy and an adult)** is a very faithful servant to Romeo. He stays with his master even after he is exiled from Verona, which is Balthasar's home as well. Balthasar obeys Romeo's orders to not follow him into the tomb. However, this obedience came for cowardliness, as well as loyalty. For example, when Friar Lawrence urgently looks for Romeo, Balthasar senses something must be wrong, but does not help the Friar find Romeo. Quote: "I dare not, sir. My master knows not but I am gone hence, And fearfully did menace me with death, If I did stay to look on his intents." (5.3.135-138)


 * Friar Lawrence (George Clooney- perceived as an untrustworthy grandfather)** throws away his loyalties to Romeo and Juliet, when his reputation is at stake. Friar Lawrence loses the audience's trust in this scene, when he runs away from the tomb, leaving Juliet to kill herself alongside Romeo. However, Friar Lawrence does begin to redeem himself when he comes forth and tells Prince, the Capulets, and the Monatgues of Juliet and Romeo's secret affair, and how he played a part in it. Quote: "Stay not to question, for the watch is coming. Come, go, good Juliet. I dare no longer stay." (5.3.163-164)


 * The First, Second, and Third Watches (Matt Damon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ben Affleck- all very alike actors who play serious parts)** obviously take their job very seriously. They are extremely suspicious of Friar Lawrence, who should have a clean reputation in Verona. Quote: "A great suspicion. Stay the Friar too." (5.3.194)

The **Prince (Tom Hanks- often plays a character of authority)** seems to be confused of the commotion at first, but could foresee a more scarring, and lethal accident between the Capulets and Monatgues coming for a long time. The Prince saw this as a newfound peace throughout his kingdom, but knew it had come at a price for everyone of Verona. Quote: "All are punished" (5.3.305)


 * Montague (???), Capulet (Colin Firth- very fatherly and endearing, but could easily overreact to disobedience), and Lady Capulet (Angelina Jolie- has a mother aspect to her, but acts younger than her age)** all play a similar role in this final scene. After a blur of confusion, the unsettling truth lies in these parents' hands. A mother and father's worst nightmare- they caused the death of their children. After realizing the consequence feud between each other is irrational, the Capulets and Monatgues make peace. Quote: "Poor sacrifices of our enmity" (Capulet; 5.3.315)


 * Paris (Sebastian Stan- easy to dislike, but has redeemed himself before)** is grieving for Juliet's death at her tomb, when Romeo shows up. In a burst of bravery, Paris fights Romeo to the death, reasoning that he is fighting for his lady. It is easy for the audience to believe that Paris did not truly love Juliet, and that his overly attentive behavior was for Capulet and Lady Capulet. Quote: "stop the unhallowed toil haughty Montague/ That murdered my love's cousin" (5.3.49-50).


 * Romeo (Orlando Bloom- is like any other teenage boy, but he seems matured in sense of falling in love)** is here in a heroic sweep so he can spend the rest of his time with Juliet, despite that fact that he has to commit suicide. The audience is torn between cheering for Romeo's bravery and crying over his intentions. This scene truly shows Romeo's love and devotion to Juliet. Quote: "Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss, I die" (5.3.120)


 * Juliet (AnnSophia Robb- an air of innocence)** wakes up, excited to be reunited with her Romeo. After seeing him dead, Juliet also proves her love to Romeo by committing suicide alongside Romeo. Juliet's lines seem that of a little girls, but her actions are those of a matured adult. Quote: "To make die with a restorative (talking about suicide). Thy lips are warm! (seems childish of her to say this right before she kills herself)." (5.3.171-172).

We also need to think of actors for Romeo and Juliet. Are their parents included in the scene as well? I think we should cast Dakota Fanning as Juliet. She has an air of innocence to her that would represent Juliet well. -Izzy P.S. What are we doing regarding the concept statement, Reed? I can probably create a short draft tonight if needed. Please let me know whatever I need to do.

Don't worry, I'm not done, I'll add in the rest of the actors tonight. And we need to start a concept statement.. what should we write in it?

I'm not sure...Reed told me he was going to write a short draft of it tonight, but I told him I could do it if need be. Not sure what to do...

Reed Morgan, Kylie Maier, Izzy Lee Mr. Speiser Acc English 9 5/17/10 Romeo and Juliet is a Shakespearean classic, which has been produced thousands of time on stage, and in cinema as well. One of the unique aspects of Shakespeare is the universality of its message, themes, and plot. This allows great adaptability-- Shakespeare can be put in any time period that the directer desires. As a group, we have been assigned to adapt Romeo and Juliet to a period of our choice, and we have decided for our artistic and stylistic purposes, to opt towards placing the star-crossed lovers in rural France during WWII. For our adaptation, the Montague clan has been made one of the units in the German force occupying "Verona", and the Capulet clan has been made one of the discontented local families. The other characters not of the families have been made, primarily, Germans outside of the //Deutsch Montague Division. // These include the Prince, who is the marshall of the occupying platoon. He has become fed up with the Montague division's inability to follow his orders to cooperate with the local people and maintain a degree of peace. Mercutio will be aid-de-camp of the Prince, keeping his strong relation, wile allowing him to not be directly tied to the Montague unit, which allows the great anger he feels towards them before his death. The friar is the town's priest, who wishes to appease the Germans while consoling his French flock. Paris is one of the local French resistance fighters, a close relative to Charles de Gaul, the leader of the resistance. This is one of the factors that lead Capulet to favour him. In our adaptation, the seat of the anger is slightly more immediate, which gives the opportunity to make it an even fresher wound. However, the conflict we establish does reflect Shakespeare's desire for a deep seated hatred, in the way we must display a more nationally based conflict. It is the French hatred for what is worst about Germany, which is what they focus on, and a hatred of the French on the German part. The French had been invaded only twice in the preceding sixty years, and still bear a grudge. In fact, for our production, the background is that Montague was a soldier in the first world war, who met a young Capulet in the trenches. When the two see each other in town once more, they recognize each other, and their hatred is rekindled. The play is in a world in which fear is constant under the brutal regime, the setting is war torn, the characters of both sides are constantly wary. All of the scenery will appear bombed, as is seen in the church yard we built. We also, in order to increase the feeling of desperation and forlornity, have transposed the time of year into winter. Increasing this feeling, our lighting scheme will be dark, in a Les Mis-esque style. This enables us to work more with the scenes of great tragedy, making them even more dismal. The world is also one in which you constantly see a new theme, that of supression. Standing on the sides of the stage when we are in public scenes, the watchmen will be Nazi guards patrolling. The one thing that will bring about order and will unify the two sides is religion. They both worship one God, who brings them together, which will be an essential thematic device. At times throughout, we will have symbolic reference to religious objects, and the effect they have on the actors as they respond and deliver lines. The other aspect that will be uplayed in our production is that of tragedy. We will maximize the deaths, the feeling of woe that the actors portray, and all areas that can go wrong in the script, will go wrong. This directing choice, coupled with the world we design, the lighting, the costuming, and the set design, will combine for an effect of great misery that really drives home the meaning of those famous last lines of the play, proving that the effect goes even farther than the ailments of the star-crossed lovers: “Never was there a tale of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo.” .

Very, very rough first draft. Will be self edited before I have a more finalized and useful version, but in the meanwhile, comments on things to be fixed?

I can help revise it, I spotted just a couple of things we should change-- but great job! Also, should Mercutio be part of the regiment instead of a Frenchman, since he is on the Monatgue side, and the Capulets are the Frenchmen?--Kylie

It's really good, Reed! Although, I agree with Kylie about Mercutio. I will also help revise but overall I think this is a good basis for the copy of our final draft. I will put the powerpoint together if everyone is willing to email me their parts. My email is ijleect@yahoo.com For costume design, I will probably end up drawing something on a poster board. Because I will be drawing on such a large scale, I think only drawing Romeo and Juliet will be sufficient. Is that okay? -Izzy

Izzy, I suggest finding online photos of costume designs for the characters you are not drawing out, because we will want to have an idea of what each person will look like, and how that portrays, in a way, their relationship to other characters on the stage.

Also, the reason I made Mercutio a Frenchman is, first of all, the Capulets are just one family of Frenchmen, and secondly part of what makes Mercutio's death so tragic is that he isn't a Montague, rather he is a regular villager who has become close with the Montague, and this bond of friendship, not kin, is what pulls him into the chasm of the feud. I think it will show this nicely if it is the Frenchmen killing another Frenchmen who is not of their cause, who asociated with the Germans. If this makes sense, good, otherwise, if you still want it changed, please reply.

Reed, while I love that idea, the question remains of whether or not the other student or Mr. Speiser will agree. It's hard to overcome the fact that Mercutio is on the side of the Montague's originally. -Izzy

above is, I believe, a link to the two slides I created with the top and side views of the set. Please give feedback on things that need improvement. When these slides are finalized, I will make a third explaining the first two. Again on the topic of Mercutio, thinking it through, how would it be if we made him aid-de-camp to the marshal/prince? This would maintain him in close relation to the prince, as in Shakespeare, and it would give reason to his siding more generally with the Montague/Germans, while avoiding putting them in such close relation that it is illogical for him to curse both the houses and have the kind of relationship he does to the Montagues.

Reed, I think that is a great idea!! The concept statement is due tomorrow- do you need me to revise/edit it? I finished the casting part above, so if you could check it over, that would be great! Also, tell me if you think of any different actors/ actresses that would be a better fit (especially Montague..I have looked up actors, but none seem a good fit!). Please let me know what else I need to do today because I will not get home until very late tomorrow. Izzy: Do you want me or you to make the casting slides? I was going to write the character, the the actress, and quote from the story, Then write a description of the character. Thankks! Kylie

Kylie-- all seems excellent, the one thing I would suggest is that you write more explanation of why each actor is cast as they are. The character description is not as essential, and should not be as long; the class knows the characters, and the assignment is not to describe them it is to cast new actors, so we definitely want to know more about why you chose the actors you did. Looking them over, all the choices seem excellent!

Hey guys, it's Izzy. I drew Romeo and Juliet, I only need to add in pictures from the internet of Prince, Montague, Capulet, Lady Capulet and Paris, which I can do in class tomorrow (if allowed).

OkayI finished my slides! How do you put them on here (I couldnt paste it here so its at the very top of the page) an I'll d email them to yoou -Kylie

The stage is lit as at night, dark, with blue light on a mist covered stage. Paris, a young rebel, bearing a large electric spotlight, walks out into the graveyard, weeping, and bearing a Cross of Lorraine in his hands, symbol of the Free French. His flash light is trained on the plain universal Christian cross which is placed above Juliet’s tomb, as he composes himself, then sends off his page, a fellow resistance worker, to keep watch. Paris then places the cross at the foot of the tomb, crosses himself, and then begins scattering flowers about the grave. He stands back when his page whistles. This adds to the understanding of the scene, because Paris really does need to be hiding from a German patrol after curfew. Romeo comes on stage left, again, bearing a torch which he trains on the cross. He is also holding a swastika. Rather than forcing the tomb open, as it is not closed, he merely flings himself upon the grave and weeps, placing the swastika beside the Cross of Lorraine. Paris sees this, and believes that Romeo is desecrating the tomb, so he pulls out his gun and steps forth, out of the shadows he was hiding in. His gun trained on Romeo, he offers his challenge. Romeo whirls around, and, shocked and still in tears responds to Paris. Paris motions him to pick up his gun over his next line. Romeo does such after his line, “then have at thee, boy!” The fight is just one gun shot, in which Romeo hits Paris. Paris then stumbles to the steps, where he falls, offering his final plea to be with Juliet. He dies, offering a stage shot in which Paris lies at the feet of Romeo, who is the only thing standing between him and Juliet. Romeo, once again, falls into weeping. He now lifts Paris up the stairs, and lays him on the back of the tomb behind the bench on which lays Juliet. He gives his final speech kneeling beside Juliet, behind her facing the audience. His speech is intermixed with tears. His section to Tybalt references the body over stage left, which Romeo looks over to. However, he never leaves his lovers body. He gives his final lines, then toasts Juliet, kisses her, looks to the heavens, then collapses across her body. At this point Juliet awakens, and delivers her final lines uninterrupted, weeping over her lover’s body. She makes her final move, pulling the knife from Romeo’s belt, and plunging it into her heart, evoking the image of a biblical sacrifice. We now have an image of a graveyard strewn with remnants of the devastation of the invasion, to one side are Tybalt and Mercutio in their coffins, to the other lie Romeo and Juliet, embracing in death, and lying on the altar beneath the cross. It is an image of tragedy and death, of religion and sacrifice. Finally, as the Princes epilogue speech is delivered from offstage, the lights fade, while a spot focuses on Romeo and Juliet alone, including the Cross of Lorraine and the Swastika which are leaned up in front of them. This last sight shows the love, the tragedy of death, but also shows the two crosses, symbols that would have been kept separate throughout the play before, now united with the lovers in death, driving home the Prince’s point of a glooming peace—a peace wrought in death. -This is part d. of the project, the description of what the audience would see in our final scene. I have put it on a slide below. Reed, then what should I put as a slide for the action part of this project? Should I just leave the slides as they are?

Here is the PowerPoint, change anything you'd like. I suggest we all have a copy somewhere we can access it at school depending on who has the most updated version. Do I have to change anything?

All is good, you can send Mr. Speiser a copy, and I'll see you all in class tomorrow.

Reed, great job tonight by the way! I think it went really well! -Izzy