Unit 4 Renaissance Arts/ Theatre

Assignment 3:  Response to the Play

Take on the persona of an Elizabethan theater-goer who has just seen the premiere performance of Mr. Shakespeare's new play (either Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet).

You may choose to be either a member of the nobility (e.g., a lord or a lady, a duke or duchess) or a groundling. Choose one of the following:

1. Write a letter to a friend about the play and your experience. Your letter should be at least 200 words in length.
2. Create a short video or audio (ok, so you've moved from the Renaissance into the 21st century) featuring a two-person dialog. Ask a family member or friend to help. Chat with this person about your experience and your opinion of the play. (You might set up a conversation between friends or an interview program.) Your video should be about two minutes in length.

Your letter or recorded conversation must include the following:

1. The action in the galleries (the stadium-style seats inside an Elizabethan era theatre) and yard (the bare ground in front of the stage where people stood to watch the performance).
2. Your opinion about the play. Feel free to praise or criticize the production. Your letter must include examples of dialog or action from the video clip. (However, remember that the production you see, as an Elizabethan era theater-goer, will not have much in the way of scenery or lighting.) You may wish to include references to other playwrights popular in the Elizabethan era.
3. Some sore of insights the play gives you into our own emotions and/or experiences or those of your friends or family members. For example, like Romeo, do you tend to fall in love with someone you barely know? Are you worried about your best friend because, like Hamlet, she questions the purpose of her own life?

And here's what I came up with:

My Dear Friend,

This day has been an amazing one!  My friends and I walked to the new Globe Theatre, on the banks of the Thames, to see Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.  The day was a beautiful one, perfect for an open-air performance in a real theatre, not just a bear-baiting pit as before!  We walked through miles of mud to arrive at The Globe, and I was astonished to see how many people were in attendance.  Most, like me, were standing in line to pay a penny to watch from the ground, but there were many noble men in attendance also, and they had fine seats.  Some of the women who attended with noblemen were actually wearing masks themselves!  Was it so they would not be recognized??!  The play was magnificent!  I had heard parts of the story of star-crossed lovers before, but this version was a bold mix of comedy and sadness.  My favorite part was when Romeo drew near to the Capulet household, climbed to Juliet’s tower and then heard her speaking aloud to him.  I felt Romeo’s excitement when he heard Juliet say that she no longer wished to be a Capulet if her family name would prevent her from being with him.  Juliet was the most beautiful girl I have ever seen, and it gave me a great shock to learn that her part was played by a man! There was much noise from the crowd, and the sights and smells of the crowd were a bit unpleasant, but it was in good fun, and all in all a most spectacular experience!  Your loving friend,  Beatrice

Note:  With this assignment I realized that it's not easy to get into character!  As on the other writing assignments I just launched in and hoped that some ideas would come to me.  As I edited this writing I tried to bring in as many specific details as possible (groundlings, details about the theatre and play, etc.) so the letter would have some substance.