Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Important pronunciation note for all student actors: "Tybalt" is "Ti" (as in "tick") and "balt" ( as in"Walt"). "Mercutio" is "Myrrh" like one of the wise men brings to the manger, "Cue" like the white ball on a billiards table and "she owe" as in "she owe me $40".
First Servant
Act I Scene ii It's mid-morning, the day of the big party. You are following your master Capulet around town. He gives you a list of people to invite to the party, and takes off to take care of something else. You're quite happy to do it, but you can't read, which he has forgotten. You decide you need to find someone who can read (" I must to the learned" )- but only as soon as you've had a nap (" in good time"). While you're napping, this guy comes and just about sits on you, which wakes you up. Not being one to miss an oppotunity, you ask him if he can read. He answers strangely, and you decide to leave him and find someone actually helpful ("ye say honestly, rest ye merry"). Then he tells you to stay, and reads the list off to you, and you make a point of memorizing it as he reads it out, probably repeating it after him under your breath. He's been so helpful that you decide to invite him to the party ("come and crush a cup of wine"), and let him know it's at your master's. Act I Scene v When one of the maskers who has crashed the party and made more work for you (Romeo) asks you who Juliet is, you pretend you don't know. Act IV Scene iv It's 3AM. You have been working like a dog to try to get enough food ready for the wedding Capulet has suddenly decided is going to happen tomorrow. You are dead on your feet, carrying things to people all night, jumping whenever the nurse, the cook , Capulet or Lady Capulet sends you anywhere.
Second Servant
Act I Scene iii It's now supper-time. The big party is on, and it's chaos at the Capulets' ("everything in extremity"). You get sent to find out the Nurse, Lady Capulet, and Juliet and to bring them into the party and let them know it's in full swing and they need to join - supper is served up. You can't stay - you have to go bring the guests their food, and you nearly beg them to follow right behind you. Act IV Scene iv It's 3AM. You have been working like a dog to try to get enough food ready for the wedding Capulet has suddenly decided is going to happen tomorrow. You are dead on your feet, carrying things to people all night, jumping whenever the nurse, the cook , Capulet or Lady Capulet sends you anywhere. Capulet tells you
to go get some drier logs for the stove, and tells you to get Peter to tell where they are. You let him know you're smart enough to find logs without bugging Peter.
Peter
Act II Scene iv You are Peter, an excellent servant in the house of the Capulet. You are the personal servant to the Nurse, who is the head servant in the household. For some reason, she's had you running all over town with her today. And you are dog tired. She wants everything yesterday, so you need to tell her she'll have to wait. That's what "anon" means - "in a minute". No use falling over yourself to give her what she wants the second she asks for it - that's the way to wear yourself out so you're no good to anyone for anything. She finds the people she seems to be looking for, and tries to act like a lady with them. One of them tosses her around a bit, all in good fun, and then she has the nerve to accuse you of failing to protect her. The trick is she's always acting like you're in trouble , and you're always acting like she needs to chill out. You need to nap and keep falling asleep.
Mercutios Page
Act III Scene i - Mercutio's Page You come on with Mercutio, and watch in bewilderment as he runs like a madman swinging his sword around at imaginary enemies in the street. The scene progresses, and he ends up fighting Tybalt, and he's funny as hell about it, which you enjoy to no end - Mercutio is whacking Tybalt on the butt with his sword, and basically taking him down a peg, which everyone enjoys. But then Mercutio gets stabbed when Romeo comes between them. At first you don't know how badly he's hurt, but when he yells at you to get a surgeon, you know it must be bad, so you hurry off to find one. Unfortunately , Mercutio dies before any surgeon can get to him.
Lady Montague
Act I Scene i Your husband has been in a silly fight with Capulet forever. Every week there is some stupid brawl or other, some times people get killed. You hear the sound of a fight, and then your husband leaves you to rush to it. You arrive just after the Prince has broken up the fight. Your husband's nephew Benvolio is there, and you ask him if he's seen your son Romeo - who you are worried about because he's staying out all night and sleeping all day. The sun is up and he hasn't been home yet. Act III Scene i There is a huge commotion in the street and there are rumours flying about that Romeo has killed someone. This is VERY bad, as the prince has promised death to any Capulet or Montague found fighting. You rush on to find Tybalt dead, and your nephew Benvolio facing down the Prince and the entire Capulet family. You are extremely worried about your son, who is nowhere to be seen. You look to Benvolio for the answers. Benvolio tells that Tybalt killed Mercutio (your sons best friend), and in revenge Romeo killed
Tybalt. Lady Capulet calls for Romeos death, and the prince asks what should be done. You must stand up for your son and save his life. You stand forward and say that Romeo should not pay the death penalty since if he had not killed Tybalt then the law would have (his fault concludes but what the law should end, the life of Tybalt). The prince declares that Romeo will not die, but be banished instead, which in these times is as good as death: you will never see your son again. You and Benvolio cry out in protest, but are quelled by the princes watch. At the end of the princes decree, Benvolio and yourself get out of there as quickly as possible because the Capulet family is staring you down as though they are going to kill you. Later, at the end of the play your husband tells us that you have died of a broken heart (due to Romeos banishment), so this is a very intense, emotional scene when you hear of Romeos banishment.
Cousin Capulet
Act I Scene v You are the cousin to Capulet. You two have been partying together since time began. Tonight his party gets crashed by a bunch of young boys in masks, who really liven things up. He asks you when it was that he and you last crashed a party like that - and you say thirty years, and enjoy remembering it with him. You will also take part in the court dance that occurs in this scene, partnering with one of the young ladies present at the dance, which is a lot of fun for your character.
Gregory
Act I Scene i In your first scene you and Sampson, who is a servant of the Capulets just like you, get to pick a fight with a couple of Montague's servants. The scene starts off with you giving Sampson hell for saying he will get violent with Capulet's maids or female servants. Then he tells you that after he's fought the men he'll cut off the heads of the maids (!!!!) then he explains the pun - he'll take their virginity by ravishing them. Then you two have a bit of fun making bawdy jokes associated with male virility: jokes such as: " me they shall feel while I am able to stand " etc. as you see a couple of Montague's servants enter. You goad them into fighting with you, especially because you see Tybalt (your master's kinsman) coming, who will totally help you win the fight. All it takes is for Abraham to call you a liar, and it is on! Act III Scene i You come to the place where you know Romeo hangs out with his buddies. You're there as backup for Tybalt, who is really incensed because Romeo crashed your master's party last night. Tybalt wants to fight Romeo. But Romeo won't fight him - he wusses out completely. Then Mercutio picks a fight with your man Tybalt. It's a good fight, and Mercutio is hilarious. You think it's all fun and games after a bit, until an obvious place in the fight choreography where it looks like any 2 of Romeo, Tybalt and Mercutio could have been stabbed. You see that Tybalt has blood on his dagger, and you know you have to get him out of there before the cops come, so you do. When you are offstage he insists on going back, and he does, without
you. You enter after hearing there is a fight, and find him there dead. You are absolutely infuriated when the prince says that Romeo will be banished instead of killed as punishment for killing Tybalt. You and all the other Capulets think he should suffer the death penalty.
keeps insisting that Romeo's gone home to bed, but you know for a fact that if you can just get Mercutio to call him, Romeo will come, because Mercutio can make any of you do just about anything. Mercutio decides to go one better: he''ll make a magic spell to conjure Romeo, referring to the power of Rosaline's sexy body -her " fine foot, straight leg and quivering thigh, and the domains that there adjacent lie". Romeo doesn't come out of the trees where he is hiding, so Balthasar you decide to give up on him and taunt him with Balthasar: Come, he hath hid himself among these trees, Blind is his love and best befits the dark. You know he can hear you. Saying "Blind is his love is" is the same as saying his love-babe Rosaline is ugly. You're hoping that by mocking his love he'll come crashing out of the bushes to call you on it, and then you can all gang up on him and make fun of him. It doesn't work and you all go home.
Apothecary
Act v Scene i The apothecary is a very important part - he sells Romeo the poison to kill himself. He's one of Shakespeare's great little characters. Romeo has a great description of him as part of the scene. In the uncut version he goes into great detail about your shop and what you look like. You are poor. Starving poor. Your job is to make drugs by hand. Business has not been good. You are best at making poisons, and those are illegal in Mantua - you could get executed for selling them. So when Romeo first bangs on your door - the first customer you've had in a month, you are surprised - the business day is over - then he asks for poison, which you don't want to sell him, but he offers you enough money that you break down and sell it to him.
are ready to re-arrest them at any given moment as they are speaking. We want to stay certain IT IS A FRESH FEUD-CRIME UNTIL WE HEAR THAT TWO OF THE DEAD ENEMIES WERE MARRIED. That should visibly shock every character onstage.
Citizens
You are just ordinary people on the street. Some of you work in stores, some of you are out to shop, some on your way to school or work. You HATE it when the Capulets and Montagues fight. And now they are fighting again. Young punks with swords. And you have no weapons, so you call out hoping someone can bring Clubs, Bills, Partisans! so you can all gang up on them and knock some sense into them. The trick to making it work is to call to someone specific offstage very directly, and believe that they can help you and need to do so now, before the brawl gets any bigger. Even if you imagine you are calling to your own real big brother sister uncle or cousin to come and protect you from whatever baddies you may have in your life, that will work.
Friar John
Its a lovely day in Verona. You enter calling for Friar Lawrence, near where you expect to find him gardening. He hears you and greets you, and asks you what Romeo said when you gave him the letter Friar L asked you to deliver to him in Mantua (you were already taking him some herbs there anyway). You explain that before you could leave Verona, the public health officials quarantined you and the letter in the house you were visiting, which they thought was infected with the plague. You just got out of that house now, so your trip to Mantua is off, so you give the letter back to him in case someone else can take it. Then Friar Lawrence gets really excited, and tells you the letter was really urgent, and asks for a crowbar.