Day 17
Read the text yesterday to prepare for this new direction that the production has taken. The problem with this text is that it is too long.
In some parts I just dont get where Shakespeare is going with it.
For example, why write the whole 5th act with all it's twists and turns and plots and brimborium when Juliet is already in a coma and we (the audience) know that she is going to die. Why the wait? Suspence? Building hope? delaying the action in order to delay the inevitable. What is the point??!
After the death of Mercutio this play turns from a light, interesting, tragicomic love story into a tragedy. And that is well done, all things considered. The current of this play runs in one direction, exept the 5th act, which runs against the current.
So I just edited it out!
Since I have to do this text as written I will at least tell the story in such a way that it has some action.
After finishing with the downsizing and decided to go look from the girl from last night, the one with the beautiful eyes, eyes that spoke volumes in their misterious silence. And I found her - and her boyfriend.
I watched sleepless in Seattle in the hotel room.
Love is deception, idioticy, spinning of tales, fools gold and misunderstanding all in one.
It is hard to stage a play about a feeling that is past it's sale by - date.
Sunday, 31 May 2009
Saturday, 30 May 2009
Rómeo and Juliet - Production diary
Days 15 and 16
I did not reherse today or yesterday.
Better to let things settle a little before we go on.
It seems that I wrote a little email when I got back to my hotel room the other night.
I was maybe a little to candid about the problems I saw within the group and how certain people were holding the production back.
And there are some that think I went overboard with my graphic descriptions of the sex scenes I want to have in the play.
But problem solved.
We will work according to the original text.
But there is a lesson here. You cannot stuff originality down peoples throat, they have to find it within themselves.
I did not reherse today or yesterday.
Better to let things settle a little before we go on.
It seems that I wrote a little email when I got back to my hotel room the other night.
I was maybe a little to candid about the problems I saw within the group and how certain people were holding the production back.
And there are some that think I went overboard with my graphic descriptions of the sex scenes I want to have in the play.
But problem solved.
We will work according to the original text.
But there is a lesson here. You cannot stuff originality down peoples throat, they have to find it within themselves.
Rómeo and Juliet - Production diary
Day 14
They did not like my ideas in the theater.
They are so small...
So narrow-minded...
I gathered all the actors to tell them about the changes and to show them some of the references that I had gathered in order to get them to see where we were heading (apocolypse now, Platoon, one flew over the coocoos nest, Titanic) but they just closed off and want to keep going down the path of shorts and balconies.
I have never felt so humiliated.
They do not show me the respect that I deserve.
Went to the pub.
on my own
the girl from the party the other day was sitting in the corner.
I know that I went over to her...And spoke to her... and I think that I was funny...to begin with...I told her about my ideas...I fell asleep...soemwhere...I woke up in my hotel room...
She had beatiful eyes.
They did not like my ideas in the theater.
They are so small...
So narrow-minded...
I gathered all the actors to tell them about the changes and to show them some of the references that I had gathered in order to get them to see where we were heading (apocolypse now, Platoon, one flew over the coocoos nest, Titanic) but they just closed off and want to keep going down the path of shorts and balconies.
I have never felt so humiliated.
They do not show me the respect that I deserve.
Went to the pub.
on my own
the girl from the party the other day was sitting in the corner.
I know that I went over to her...And spoke to her... and I think that I was funny...to begin with...I told her about my ideas...I fell asleep...soemwhere...I woke up in my hotel room...
She had beatiful eyes.
Rómeo and Juliet - Production diary
Day 13
I'm depressed
Romeo and Juliet is such a superficial play. A farce mixed up with banal love scenes. There is just no way to make this plausible.
And theater has to be realistic, otherwise it looks like it is fake. This is why I'm hoping to make it into the filmbusiness, films look real!
And for this reason I am thinking about returning the costume I ordered from Italy (from Verona of couse) and turning the concept into something modern and interesting.
Skip the nurse and the boring love scenes and concentrate on the fighting. Work with themes involving rasism and broken society.
Something in the way of two families from the same country but different clans. And for some reason hatred has blossomed for centuries. But newly it has escalated into a civil war.
Of course you can't play scenes on balconies in a middle of a war but you can adjust that within this concept.
Romeo and juliet live on different sides of a bridge in town. But nobody can cross the bridge because it is guarded by a terrible sniper that goes by the name of Tybalt.
They communicate through light signals, and hidden messeges and decide to sacrifice their life in order to bring peace and freedom to their nation. They call up CNN and in front of the cameras they run onto the bridge. Of course they are shot to peaces but they manage to get to oe another before they bleed to death.
And then the princw comes, wearing a blue helmet. The united nations decided to intervene because of the news footage.
This is great. This way I can make the piece current, political and get away from telling a banal love story.
My name is Thor and I am a genius!
I'm depressed
Romeo and Juliet is such a superficial play. A farce mixed up with banal love scenes. There is just no way to make this plausible.
And theater has to be realistic, otherwise it looks like it is fake. This is why I'm hoping to make it into the filmbusiness, films look real!
And for this reason I am thinking about returning the costume I ordered from Italy (from Verona of couse) and turning the concept into something modern and interesting.
Skip the nurse and the boring love scenes and concentrate on the fighting. Work with themes involving rasism and broken society.
Something in the way of two families from the same country but different clans. And for some reason hatred has blossomed for centuries. But newly it has escalated into a civil war.
Of course you can't play scenes on balconies in a middle of a war but you can adjust that within this concept.
Romeo and juliet live on different sides of a bridge in town. But nobody can cross the bridge because it is guarded by a terrible sniper that goes by the name of Tybalt.
They communicate through light signals, and hidden messeges and decide to sacrifice their life in order to bring peace and freedom to their nation. They call up CNN and in front of the cameras they run onto the bridge. Of course they are shot to peaces but they manage to get to oe another before they bleed to death.
And then the princw comes, wearing a blue helmet. The united nations decided to intervene because of the news footage.
This is great. This way I can make the piece current, political and get away from telling a banal love story.
My name is Thor and I am a genius!
Rómeo and Juliet - Production diary
Day 12
So as already mentioned...
I have a confrontational east European Juliet and a Jewish Romeo for my production.
Some might of course say that this is in some way interesting, offers a new approach to the play and opens up possible interpretations.
But as an answer to that I simply state that this is only Romeo and Juliet that we are talking about, it is not really like I have a literary masterpiece on my hands.
Don't get me wrong, Shakespeare is great and all, but love stories just were no his thing. I mean nobody is perfect.
I this were a Ibsen... The doll house, for instance, would have plenty of space for these kind of nationalities. Nora, a east european immigrant, lives with her Jewish husband which does not understand a word she says. So he just ignores her. But she starts handeling the money of the family, which of course sets unforseen things into motion.
Or if we want to be anal and stay with Shakespeare how about a Jewish Othello and a east european Destimona. Othello escaped Nazi Germany and hid away in a Ungarn village where he was taken in by a welthy family.
He takes up duties for the family to repay the trust that he was given and to earn the daughter of the house. But the nazis are after him and have infiltrated the family in order to search for the jew and their spy follows him to where he has been posted. And there a epic history of revenge, greed and the follies of love take place.
(These ideas are copyrighted to Mr. Arnarsson enterprieses)
But I am stuck with plain old boring Romeo and Juliet.
So as already mentioned...
I have a confrontational east European Juliet and a Jewish Romeo for my production.
Some might of course say that this is in some way interesting, offers a new approach to the play and opens up possible interpretations.
But as an answer to that I simply state that this is only Romeo and Juliet that we are talking about, it is not really like I have a literary masterpiece on my hands.
Don't get me wrong, Shakespeare is great and all, but love stories just were no his thing. I mean nobody is perfect.
I this were a Ibsen... The doll house, for instance, would have plenty of space for these kind of nationalities. Nora, a east european immigrant, lives with her Jewish husband which does not understand a word she says. So he just ignores her. But she starts handeling the money of the family, which of course sets unforseen things into motion.
Or if we want to be anal and stay with Shakespeare how about a Jewish Othello and a east european Destimona. Othello escaped Nazi Germany and hid away in a Ungarn village where he was taken in by a welthy family.
He takes up duties for the family to repay the trust that he was given and to earn the daughter of the house. But the nazis are after him and have infiltrated the family in order to search for the jew and their spy follows him to where he has been posted. And there a epic history of revenge, greed and the follies of love take place.
(These ideas are copyrighted to Mr. Arnarsson enterprieses)
But I am stuck with plain old boring Romeo and Juliet.
Rómeo and Juliet - Production diary
Day 11
The romeo that this theater came up with is not the following:
Tall
Charming
Interesting
Blond
Blue eyed
But as a matter of face he is...
Short
depressed
intellectual
mouse coloured hair
and last but not least...
He's Jewish!
There is nothing more that I can say tonight
The romeo that this theater came up with is not the following:
Tall
Charming
Interesting
Blond
Blue eyed
But as a matter of face he is...
Short
depressed
intellectual
mouse coloured hair
and last but not least...
He's Jewish!
There is nothing more that I can say tonight
Sunday, 24 May 2009
Rómeo and Juliet - Production diary
Day 10
I decided it was time to take some physicological action in orderto protect the production from undo fear- or stressfactors and informed the actors that they did not have to worry about how to tackle the roles in the play. Since Romeo and Juliet is the most performed play in history there is absolutly no way that they can be original. No possibility what so ever! And thus the did not have to worry at all, it's all been done before, and most likely better than they will ever be able to.
( I mean everything that is to be done with this play has already been done, and besides, all the greats in the history of acting have done it - from Olivier to Dicaprio)
This really helped the athomsphere. The normal chatter between the actors died down and there was a good working silence for the rest of the rehersal.
This will get though as we go along so no need to set up undo pressure at this point.
" Get them to belief that they don't have to belief - and belief will duly arrive" TS Elliot
In other news I'm really in a good mood. The sun is shining outside me 5 star hotel window.
One thing surprised me though, you can't open the windows more then a tweak. I guess it is to keep the businessmen from jumping - given the crisis and all.
Well good night
Thor
I decided it was time to take some physicological action in orderto protect the production from undo fear- or stressfactors and informed the actors that they did not have to worry about how to tackle the roles in the play. Since Romeo and Juliet is the most performed play in history there is absolutly no way that they can be original. No possibility what so ever! And thus the did not have to worry at all, it's all been done before, and most likely better than they will ever be able to.
( I mean everything that is to be done with this play has already been done, and besides, all the greats in the history of acting have done it - from Olivier to Dicaprio)
This really helped the athomsphere. The normal chatter between the actors died down and there was a good working silence for the rest of the rehersal.
This will get though as we go along so no need to set up undo pressure at this point.
" Get them to belief that they don't have to belief - and belief will duly arrive" TS Elliot
In other news I'm really in a good mood. The sun is shining outside me 5 star hotel window.
One thing surprised me though, you can't open the windows more then a tweak. I guess it is to keep the businessmen from jumping - given the crisis and all.
Well good night
Thor
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