“The Most Lamentable
Comedy and Most Cruel
Death of Romeo and Juliet.”
A retelling of William Shakespeare’s famous plays:
Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Our goals
• Approach the study and understanding of Shakespeare’s
“Romeo and Juliet” from a theatrical point of view.
• Our goal is for the students to get excited about theatre in
general and Shakespeare in particular.
• To see how current and relevant Shakespeare still is.
• We want to show them that old plays can be “re-written” or
adapted to feel more contemporary and speak to a modern
audience, without losing their essence.
Doing a “play”, “playing a character” is,
in fact, just that: PLAYING.
We want the whole process to feel like
a game.
The premise
“Romeo and Juliet”
meets
“A Midsummer
Night’s Dream”
The premise
• The choice isn’t arbitrary because of course “Romeo and
Juliet” is based on the story of “Pyramus and Thisbe”, which
also serves as the plot for the play put on by the mechanicals
in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. Or as they call it:
“ The Most Lamentable Comedy
and Most Cruel Death of
Pyramus and Thisbe*”
*Romeo and Juliet in our production
W h a t t h i s a l l o w s f o r. . . .
•
•
•
•
Introduction of elements of comedy.
Flexibility in terms of characters and female / male ratios.
Adaptable to the participating students and their abilities.
Introduces the concept of play-within-a-play.
Note: The focus is still
on Romeo and Juliet.
It isn’t necessary to
read A Midsummer
Night’s Dream but they
should watch the 1999
movie directed by
Michael Hoffman.
Adaptation
• The action takes place in a classroom.
A place associated to learning and knowledge, but also, to some
students, sometimes associated to boredom and tediousness.
Adjectives also often associated to theatre.
• Yet “to play” means both
to perform and to do
something for fun!
We aim to transform the
classroom and literature
class into a space associated
to “playing”, to fun. Both
during the rehearsal process
and as the premise for the
final outcome.
Adaptation
• Our comedy and our tragedy
come together in one single
piece through Pyramus and
Thisbe and Romeo and Juliet.
• This meta-theatrical game with
Shakespeare’s plays will have one
master of ceremonies: the
mischievous Puck.
The most magical sprite in
theatre will take us through this
dream, encouraging us to play
and to re-imagine the story.
O u r t h e a t r e : SAT!
• A school’s classroom, with
the 20 tables and chairs of
the participating students,
will be the versatile set
design of our production.
Through them we will see
cities, forests, balconies…
everything that
Shakespeare, in his empty
Globe theatre, got his
audience to imagine.
• For all this, we have at our disposal the SAT theatre, that allows us to
implement a light and sound design that will help the audience enter
this magical game, and bring together dreams and reality.
Dramaturgy
• Simplified modern English (and small bits of the original text).
• It is a fun environment to practice English and get further
acquainted with Shakespeare’s literature…
• …and to show them the aliveness of theatre. Classic plays can
be modernised.
• We want to encourage the students to participate with
anything they can offer creatively!
• It is a flexible script that will grow during rehearsals. Including
using the students’ own languages.
• We make the most of the artistic abilities of your students.
Stages / Calendar
The game begins. Each stage “unlocks” the next.
BY DECEMBER 1st: Stage 1: Filmed audition.
• The kids, with your help, will be asked to record a
short audition video of themselves.
• Any kid who wants to can participate as an exercise. The final
selection can either be made exclusively by the teachers and
coordinators, or we can make the final call from a preselection you send us.
• The videos will allow us to assign the characters and roles.
Stage 1: Audition
• Three things feature in the video:
- A brief introduction to answer the following
questions:
• What is your name? How old are you?
• Where are you from? What is the name of your
school?
• Have you ever done any theatre? Do you like going
to the theatre?
• Do you play any instruments?
• What are your hobbies? *
*If the kids have any special abilities, those can be included in the
production.
Stage 1: Audition
- Memorizing and reciting this slightly altered
passage from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
“This is a list of the names of all the men and women in Europe
who are good enough to act in the play we’re going to perform
in Barcelona for the duke and duchess on their wedding night.
Our play is called The Most Lamentable Comedy and Most Cruel
Death of Romeo and Juliet. Let me tell you, it’s a great piece of
work, and very very funny.”
• “Stage direction”: Their goal is to convince potential fellow actors
(on the other side of the camera), that they are eager to do this
play and to encourage them to participate.
Stage 1: Audition
- An additional monologue of their choice.
Four options will be given, as well as some very simple
guidelines on how to play each part. (For example:
demonstrating authority.)
“Stop it! Stop this fighting now! Everybody stop! Put down your swords and
listen to me. I am very angry. This fighting must stop. If the Capulet family or
the Montague family disturb the Peace again, you will pay with your lives. Do
you understand? Capulet, come with me. I want to talk to you .Montague,
come to my palace this afternoon. Remember, I want no more fighting
between your two families.”
- The Prince. Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, scene 1.
“I, Snout, play a wall. But not just any wall. I’m pretending to be a wall that
has a little hole in it. The lovers Romeo and Juliet whispered very secretly
through that hole. This clay, this cement, and this stone that I have around
me show that I’m that wall. It’s the truth. And this is the hole, right side and
left side, through which the lovers will be whispering.”
- Snout, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 5, scene 1.
Stage 1: Audition
It is important that you adjust the English difficulty of the
monologues to each student. Not the entire monologue is
required.
”I’m sorry about my friends, Nurse. They like to joke. I must see Juliet again. She is
like the sun. Her eyes are stars. She is an angel. Tell Juliet she must go to Friar
Laurence’s room this afternoon and we will be married. Remember Nurse, nobody
knows. It’s a secret plan, so don’t tell anybody. “
- Romeo (to Nurse), Romeo and Juliet, Act II Act 2 (scenes I and III)
“(speaking to herself, very nervous) Where is Nurse? She went out at nine o’clock
this morning and promised to return in thirty minutes…Now it’s twelve o’clock.
(Nurse arrives, but she doesn’t say anything) Oh, here she is. (pause. Juliet waits for
the news.) Well, what did he say? (pause) Nurse, speak to me!! (pause) What did he
say about our wedding? Nurse!!!!! (after a long pause Juliet starts laughing or
crying, but very happy) Oh, thank you Nurse, thank you!!! Now I must go and
prepare.”
- Juliet, Romeo and Juliet, Act II (scene IV)
Stages / Calendar
DURING DECEMBER: Stage 2 - reading
• Reading of Romeo and Juliet the adapted version.
• Viewing of the film A Midsummer Night’s Dream (we
recommend the 1996 version directed by Michael Hoffman).
Stages / Calendar
AFTER CHRISTMAS: Stage 3 – short quizzes
• Quiz 1: OUTLINE.
After they respond correctly to a few questions on Romeo and Juliet
and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, they receive via email, an outline
of the adaptation.
• Quiz 2: ROLES. (Later in
January)
A few on questions on William
Shakespeare (they should be
able to find out easily) to
encourage some research. As
soon as they’ve got the right
answers, they will know which
role they play.
Stages / Calendar
END OF JANUARY: Stage 4 – finding their scene partners.
• When everyone knows their role, they will be given the
contact details of the other kids and will be asked to find out –
via email, facebook or skype - who their scene partners are.
When they do, they will receive the full script.
• The goal is for the kids to start knowing each other. Not to be afraid
to interact with someone from another country. To practice their
English and to use new technologies.
Stages / Calendar
UNTIL APRIL: Stage 5 – Understanding & memorising script
• They need to know their lines by the time they get to Barcelona.
They can help each other out running lines.
APRIL: Stage 6 – Rehearsals in Barcelona!
• 1 week of rehearsals to put on the play.
• The students from Barcelona not performing will also help.
New technologies
• All the information will be centralised on a website. Including a
calendar, the quizzes, etc. Whenever there is an update, they
will receive a notification via email/Facebook group.
• Social platform: Facebook / Skype…* We’re open to suggestions. We want
the kids to be able to communicate amongst themselves during the process. We also want to
always be in touch and available to you.
What we ask from you
• Carry out the audition phase. Helping them understand the
extract at a very basic level:
• English comprehension
• who their characters is
• who they’re speaking to
• Work in class on the play Romeo and Juliet.
• Viewing the film A Midsummer Night’s Dream (we recommend
the 1996 version directed by Michael Hoffman).
• Optional: Viewing the film Romeo and Juliet (we recommend
the 1996 version directed by Baz Luhrmann).
• Helping them through stage 4, to contact the kids from other
countries.
• Helping them memorise their lines.
See you in Barcelona!