Romeo and Juliet review

Romeo and Juliet (before watching) 05/10/2023 

I roughly know what the plot of Romeo and Juliet due to a few drama studies, so I know what it will be about, but I’m unsure how it’ll be performed, especially when Romeo and Juliet both kill themselves. I’m excited to see the performance and I’ve got high expectations since they are professional actors. I’m curious about what the props, makeup and stage effects will look like. I’m also looking forward to seeing how they pull off the deaths, and whether or not they will be using fake blood. 

Romeo and Juliet (the performance) 07/10/2023 

The stage layout had a balcony on stage left and on stage right, there was a bench with a frame which the actors could climb on. The actors have a great memory, especially since the lines were all in old English. The actors' enthusiasm in many scenes were admirable, especially in the scene where everyone was drunk. They all climbed on the bench frame, danced and hugged each other, even their voices and facial expressions looked as if they were drunk, and in that same scene, Romeo and Juliet met. There were a few scenes where the actors stood idlily reciting their lines, but in the scene which Romeo and Juliet both died, there was no fake blood but the actors' grief seemed genuine. 

 
Romeo and Juliet (after watching) 07/10/2023 

In my opinion I thought the characters’ acting was really impressive, especially during a scenes where the characters were acting drunk and when Juliet “died”. It wasn’t much of a surprise that they didn’t use fake blood, since they needed to make it appropriate for younger viewers. I couldn’t understand all of it because it was in Shakespearean English but knowing the plot helped sufficiently. There were a few cases where an actor stumbled on or forgot their lines, but that’s expected as it wasn’t in modern English. To make it better, they could have made the sound effects a bit quieter as I found them too loud. I really liked the set as it was very versatile and detailed, it also had many different levels which gave it variation. Overall, it was an impressive performance and I enjoyed it greatly.