Favorite Scene in Act 2, Romeo and Juliet

I'd have to say that scene 2 is probably my favorite just because of the connection that Romeo and Juliet make in this scene, Juliet may do most of the talking in the beginning but her words gave me goosebumps and had me wishing a girl would think of me like that (not after a day of course). The way that Romeo just seemed to take it all in was just amazing, so calm and collected as opposed to completely freaking out which would have ruined the scene completely, Romeo showed collectiveness when he said "shall I speak to this or shall I hear more". That was a sign that he was calm under pressure and also that he liked hearing his name in such good conversation (with one's self). Juliet was so beautiful in the language she used and her bittersweet wording of her feelings for Romeo, she seemed to like it but at the same time was sad, not because she didn't want to be with him but because he is supposed to be "the enemy". She shows her dissatisfaction with the fact that he is her "enemy" when she says "What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face. O, be some other name Belonging to a man" this basically means that a name should be no reason to hate someone when they themselves have done nothing wrong, just because of a long lasting dispute, not everyone is guilty in the dispute. Scene 2 just showed and incredible connection between the pair, the words spoken and the very little actions done but even though there was little kissing, the language in itself professed and underlying sense of love between the pair. Also it taught me somethiing, no amount of hate between sides, can keep two people who are meant to be away from eachother which is kind of a beautiful thing especially in the way that Shakespeare illustrates it here. 

Romeo and Juliet: Act 2, Scene 2: Juliet

In act 2, scene 2, it is the first time that Romeo and Juliet hint at liking eachother or making anything serious come of it, Juliet basically asks where about is Romeo though he be nearby. She then goes on to basically state that Romeo i supposed to be her enemy but she is capturing feelings for him and that she did not understand why a feud between the family is drawing them apart. She finishes her statement by saying that if his last name not be Montegue that she would be his wife. 

Romeo and Juliet Analysis

So far, Romeo and Juliet has already surprised me, it has been a very interesting read and I am very excited to resume reading it, the opening scene was amazing and comedic and had me giggling. So far, all we know in the story is that the Montague's and the Capulets have a very violent feud going on between them that it seems like nothing can resolve. We know that Romeo is in love with a girl which has driven him into a depressed state. We know that Juliet is seemingly about to be set up with an older, rich man named Paris. 

Act 1 of the play has me very interested, it was very comedic in the beginning and I liked that part before all of the depressing, romantic part of the play shows its head. So far in the play, Romeo seems like a hopeless romantic who is without love at the moment, he seems very impulsive to find love and depressed that he can't find it, he proves this with the quote "out of her favour, which I am in love". Somehow he comes across as confident in who he is and that he'll find love. We haven't heard much about Juliet but she seems very hesitant to find a boy, she seems very content just doing her thing and just being a girl and doing what girls her age do. Benvolio is kind of like a peace keeper in the huge feud between the two families, he attempted to break up the fight between the two, he proved his peace-keeping ways when he said "I do but keep the peace, now put up thy sword or manage to part these men with me". Tybalt is by far the most violent of all of them, he wants a fight with the Montagues and attempts to add fuel to the fire by saying "what, drawn talk of peace, I hate the word, I hate hell and all Montegues" in which a fight breaks out and the citizens come forth and beat them with clubs. Lady Montague is a very concerned parent by the looks of it, she says "O, where is Romeo? Saw you him today? Right glad I am that he was not at this fray". She seems like she just wants him to stay out of trouble and to be happy because apparently she has noticed that he has seemed other than normal. Paris seems very eager to marry Juliet already as he says to Mr. Capulet "Younger than she are happy mothers made" although he is very wealthy, he is an older man and Juliet is just a ripe apple just picked from the tree at 13 years old and she is definitely not ready for a fully committed marriage. So far Romeo and Juliet is a very well-written and spontaneoulsly entertaining read and I look forward to continuing. 

Act 1: Scene 1/2 Summaries

Act 1: The Capulet servants rant to eachother about their hatred of the Montague family. They talk about attacking the Montague's in such ways as brutall beating the men and raping the women. Sampson and Gregory try to provoke a fight with a couple of Montague servants, The Montague servants give in and a fight erupts

Act 2: Juliet's family, the Capulet's are trying to set Juliet up with a man named Paris who is older then her but very wealthy, they say that she is too young to get married but they consider him a fine suitor and they invite him to a huge dinner feast that they hold every year. 

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time: Play vs. Novel

     In the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon an autistic boy named Christopher discovers the world and learns new things on his way to try to take on his A-level math exam, however in the play version by Simon Stephens brings the characters to life.The similarities and in the play and novel versions are seen by the differences in words, characters and all around way of reading and seeing it.

    The play version of Curious Incident is definitely a more interesting read as it incorporates actual actions and music and lighting arrangements. In the play version it takes out portions of storyline to make it shorter and slightly changes the dialogue so it is in first person. In the novel, words are less alive than in the play version but there is more storyline and things are a little bit more specific in detail than the play version. I like the play version better just because I felt like it was more first person, if the novel would have been first person it would have been brilliant but the third-person aspect of the novel killed it for me, it was better told in a first person format. The novel and play are similar and different in many ways.

   The novel and play version are similar in storyline, but other than that they have many differences. They differ because the play version takes the words and brings them to life, the play puts a completely different perspective on the story with a very well-written first person perspective of how Christopher's life is. The novel does a decent job of describing Christopher’s condition and what his life is like but not as good as the play which provides actions and movements and directions to the characters to help illustrate what Christopher’s life is like. Also the play is a lot shorter then the book most likely because it has to fit in to a time slot and the book can basically go into more detail about everything which is one of the things I like about the book, the detail about all the characters and things in the book.

   The similarities and in the play and novel versions are seen by the differences in words, characters and all around way of reading and seeing it. The similarities and differences sort of come together to put two different perspectives on the story, first and third-person perspectives, one version provides more detail to back the more third-person approach and one pays more attention to effects and movements and directions to fit the more first-person approach. In closing, both approaches provide interesting insight into the storyline and what it's like to be in Christopher’s situation 

Shakespeare vs. Modern English

Shakespeare uses Old English and we use modern english

Shakespeare used round theatres and today we use closed theatres

a lot of Shakespeare used audience participation and modern theatre does not

Shakespeare had all male casts even female roles were played by males nowadays female roles are actually played by females

no costumes, just everyday clothes in Shakespeare and now we have costumes

Weather affected performances because of the open roof, now its all inside so it can't affect it

Historically based plays by Shakespeare, nowadays its based on what entertains the public

Food was a big part of performances

Low scenery, very little effects in Shakespeare, now its a bit more fancy

People had to stand in theatres in Shakesperian era, now u can sit

Shakespeare had to make everything more dramatic because there were no microphones, nowadays we can speak normally because of microphones

In Shakespeare there was no seperation from the performance and the audience, nowadays there are.

Literature and Performance

Literature is a piece of work written by a person to be read and invisioned in the mind. Performance is an acting out of literature, so in a way these two are connected but are also different in many ways. Performances normally start out as just literature, words on a page and actions in asterix, what makes a performance more than literature is the fact that a lot of things must come together in order to make it a performance that can be seen by an audience and not just something somebody reads and imagines in their mind what happends. In literature there is no action, there are just words and the readers makes what they want of those words and that is literature, performance in a way is similar btu instead of the audience imagining the way it is peformed, the performers, the director and the ensemble band arrange how the performance is set up and do with the script what they like, such as changing the names and genders of characters and inserting and taking out lines as they please as well as rearranging the set to fit the specific space of the peformance.

In my experience with literature and performance, performance is a lot more intense than literature, even thought that is the expected answer I have reasoning to back it up. In my first performance I had a small role because I am bad with memorization, and althought my part seemed so small, I was able to make it more intense and bring it to life. In literature, if a role is boring or small there really isn't anything you can do to make it more interesting but in performance, the smallest parts or roles can be the most instense, it just depends on what the actor playing the part intends to do with the part. Literature is something where when something is written, it is set in stone, nothing can be changed or moved around, made better or worse, nothing changes but with performance you can change the mood, the setting, the time period and so much that you wouldnt be able too in literature. Creativity is a factor in both literature and performance but have different meanings in both, in litereature, creativity means fancy words and creative structuring, in performance, creativity means acting, music, lighting arrangements, set up, costumes, line structuring and just all around actions. 

In closing, literature and performance both have their different forms of creativity but in the end they lock arms because in a lot of ways, literature makes a performance because the writing of a script is the foundation in which a performance plants its roots, so literature and performance overall go hand in hand with their similiarities and differences.

"A script is less than a play, while a production is more" - How to Read A Play by Ronald Hayman

This quote to me means that a script is just words written on a page meant to have something done with them whilst a production is the carrying out of that something that was meant to be done with those words in extent making the play bigger then the words that were written. I think this makes sense because a script for me is only the beginning and a script can sometimes be very vague but then when u start acting it out the words on the page come alive, so I like this quote a lot. This relates to our class because the majority of us have experience in performing and we have both read a script and how at times they can be vague but then have watched them come to life in performance

Intorduction

Hey guys, my name is Michael Davis and I'm a junior at Cheshire Academy and I play tennis, I play the drums and I sing. I started acting last year making my debut in the winter musical at Cheshire Academy and I absolutely loved it. I'll tell you a bit more about myself as a person.

I was born in Westchester County, New York and when I was young I moved around New York a lot. When I was 4 we moved to Port Chester, New York where my brother was born, we stayed there for about 2 years after that, from there we moved back to Westchester County and stayed there for about 6 years, I completed my elementary and middle school careers there. When i was 12 we moved to Hamilton Parish, Bermuda, where I currently reside away from my time at Cheshire Academy. I went to school in Bermuda for about a year at a school called Saltus Grammar School but after giving much thought and consideration about the cirriculum and the overall atmosphere of the school, me and my school thought it best for me to find a place away from Bermuda. I now attend school at Cheshire Academy as a boarding student, this is my 3rd year at the Academy after arriving in Freshman year. I am very happy here with the opportunities I am being given playing tennis, singing, playing the drums and in acting, the community is such a welcoming place and I'm proud to be a member of such a great society. 

 

In my friend group I am always the most supportive one, I always worry about everyone and try my best to help everyone when they are feeling sad. I kind of have two personalities, I have a personality for playing tennis and a personality for being a person and a citizen of society. When I am on the tennis court I am a fighter, no matter how hard the situation is I always make sure that I never give up and that I always stay positive, I gve everything I have to the sport of tennis and it has given its all too me. My favorite thing about playing tennis is how it tests you, you are constantly being tested by the elements, your opponent, sometimes the surface depending on the surface you play on and most importantly your own mind. Tennis helps me in everyday life because sometimes I use similar mental tools to fight through a hard day or a tough exam as I would to play my best in a close tennis match. My personality as a friend is a mix between soft and caring and tough, I can be soft and caring when my friends are down and something bad happened but I can be hard on them when they always put themselves down but its always meant to inspire them and give them confidence in themselves.

Anyway since you guys are going to be reading my blog this is the stuff you should know about me.

~M