Unit 3: Romey & J - Reduced Shakespeare Company (Blog 3)

In class, we watched a version of Romeo and Juliette by the Reduced Shakespeare Company (R.S.C).
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzVyqiskpMk
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKUyq-uCZr0

There were many Shakespearean elements in this version. This includes the fact that their were no girls at all during the play, just like there weren't any girls in Shakespeare's time. Also, they involved the audience a lot in the show. This includes breaking the fourth wall, and interacting with the audience. Whilst on stage, the actors would speak to the audience.

They also made some changes to the play. One of these things was that they broke character but on purpose. An example of this is at the end when Romeo kisses Juliette before he dies, Romeo breaks character and says 'Oh get over it!' to the audience. This is because, a modern day audience isn't used to seeing a boy kiss a boy so the R.S.C made a joke out of it. Another thing they changed was the script. They wanted to shorten the play so that they could fit more plays into their performance time. To do this they only used important scenes and only some of the lines. For example, they shortened the scene where Tybolt is killed to only a couple of seconds.

I don't think that this kind of performance would be successful in Shakespeare's time because it was adapted to suit a modern day audience. Many of the jokes made in the performance would not be funny in his time and no one would get the jokes.


-K xxx