Anthony Parkinson
Power, greed, lust , love, pain, hate, hurt, hope, tragedy, peace.
This play could be set in any society or group of people anywhere in the
world. No matter who or where you are there will always be a bond between
this play and your own life.
Modern day society is just as real as any part of this story. We think we
live our lives as we decide, and yet our lives have so much impact on everybody
else.
The violence and lust for power shown throughout the play is so common in
our world. How many of us can walk through our own town or city without encountering
some sort of aggression.
We all fight and argue amongst ourselves to prove nothing more than ‘face’.
This can lead to retaliation, and to an escalation of violence. Why do the
English hate the Welsh, Liverpool hate Manchester or rival estates in the
same town constantly have to get one over on each other? Why do the Montagues
hate the Capulets? Why does Tybalt hate Romeo?
If we continue this violent behaviour we will soon find that we live in a
very bitter world where the only form of communication will be through violence.
“…the continuance of their parents’ rage, Which, but their
children’s end, nought could remove…”
Joe Wilkins
When I found out that I was playing the role of Paris, not knowing the play that well, I wondered who he was. This is what my first thought usually is, then I read the script and different ideas about the character develop. It is then in the rehearsals that the characters are shaped by the director and the actors. For this play the rehearsal period was relatively short, just three weeks. However, with Off the Ground this rehearsal period does not mean merely re-running scenes. Most of the character development occurs in more informal settings, where the characters and their relationship with others are discussed in depth. For example, the cast went away to a cottage in Wales, in the middle of nowhere, not only to discuss the play but to get to know each other. This discussion is an important process. It provides a greater understanding of the character – without it you might as well be reading straight from the script all the time. An example of the discussions we may have is me asking Dan or Matt whether they think Paris is genuinely in love with Juliet or what would Juliet and Paris have been like as a married couple. This concentration on discussion helps to evoke active participation by all the cast in relation to all of the parts.
Rebecca Sheeran
Apparently, I don’t look like a Juliet; aside from being mildly offended I’m intrigues as to what a Juliet does look like. As far as I know Shakespeare didn’t specify, after all, in Elizabethan theatre the part would have been played by a boy. The preconception that Juliet should be blonde, beautiful and sweetly innocent looking is just one of the assumptions commonly made about the role, which are not strictly true. For a start, she is hardly demure, which is made clear in the language she uses; at the ball she flirts as outrageously as Romeo and proves to be equally able to use innuendo and play with words. Nor is Juliet a weak and ‘girly’ female, the plot of the play could not really take place without her having immense strength of character. Juliet is the one who proposes marriage and almost organises Romeo. She, even in her desperate state, is strong enough to “be merry” and deceive her father that she will marry Paris. Neither this nor her feigned and actual suicides could take place without amazing self-control and strength.
One of the challenges in playing Juliet has been trying to portray the character as I see her written in the text rather than the one created by the accumulation of popular misconceptions. It is very easy to slip into hysteria in the second half of the play, but in actual fact, Juliet goes through a range of emotions and different reactions after Romeo leaves for Mantua, and I am to let the audience share in this. Talking about the characters’ attitudes and motives has been an important and very helpful part of the rehearsal process, in ensuring a cohesive approach to the play as a whole. One of the hardest things in presenting such a well known play as Romeo and Juliet is the knowledge that the audience will all come with their own expectations and preconceptions. I hope to fulfill some, but dispell others.
Helen Obrien
I’m rude, I’m lewd, I’m mouthy. I’m caring, I’m
supportive, I’m loving. I’ve been through life’s dramas and
traumas. I’m sensitive to the class system and gender system in my society
and occasionally manage to turn my nose at them. Well, I’m not, but my
character is. I play Juliet’s nurse and the above list just about sums
up why I am enjoying the role. The nurse has raised Juliet and has grown to
love her as a surrogate daughter. The nurse’s own daughter dies, so all
of her maternal love and attention was given to Juliet. A bizarre little insight
in to the period is given when we learn that the nurse actually breast-fed
Juliet. This was the done thing at the time and must have created a strong
bond between the nurse and the baby. As Lady Capulet is so cold and bitter,Juliet
naturally turns to the nurse for the care and support that she needs from
a mother figure. So when the nurse finds Juliet seemingly dead, it must be
like finding her own child dead. I love the fact that it’s the nurse
who finds Juliet in this state, that she has been with her from the cradle
to the grave.
I also play the part of Prince of Verona – right at the other end of
the social scale. I thoroughly enjoy this role because I get to be the boss
and dole out punishment. The Prince is thoroughly annoyed with the Montagues
and the Capulets for their war When this war culminates in the terrible deaths
of the two lovers, the Prince is also annoyed at himself for allowing things
to go so far. Their war goes beyond his control.
As a little added bonus I get to read the prologue. When I was in secondary school Mrs. Quinn made us learn Puck’s speech from the end of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I can still remember it now and I think that the prologue from Romeo and Juliet will remain with me in the same way. I’m not quite sure what it is about, this speech, but I find it very powerful and I feel it grabs the attention. I only hope I do it justice.
John Evans
It was a funny series of events that led to me playing a part in this production. This is what happened.
After an inspirational conversation with my girlfriend about being an out of work actor, I decided to start ringing round people I knew to see if their were any doors opening in the long, dark, cold corridor of the acting world. I left a message on Dan’s phone which went along the lines of: “ Alright mate, it’s John. Just wondered if you were doing anything with the company at the moment. If so, and if work is available, give us a buzz.”
So, about six hours later, Dan called me back and told me about this production. He asked me to play the part of Tybalt which, obviously, I accepted. At first, I found the rehearsals difficult as I hadn’t done anything since ‘The Crucible” in July, but soon enough, the shine came back and I quickly began developing the characteristics of Tybalt; what makes him tick? Why does he hate Romeo? Basically, I came up with the idea that Tybalt was a loose cannon among the Capulets, hell bent on a self destructive mission to cause as much grief for the Montagues as possible. Which obviously he does, because if not for his intrusion, Romeo and Juliet would have had no problems.
When I feel that I know a character inside out, I begin adding my own feelings and attitudes into the mind of the character, finding and then exploiting any similarities I may have, fuse the two together hopefully into a believable role.
The tour itself will be my thirty-eighth production since I started acting
at the age of fourteen, after this, I am going down to London to work with
OTG. again for three and a half weeks on the London fringe, which will be
tough and I’ll miss those who are close, but then again, like Tybalt,
I relish the challenge.