site

Please be patient - plenty of text to read while the pictures load ;-)

ROMEO & JULIET
Text by Matt D-S
Photos and additional text by Sue Haley

When the students of Walcat received word that they were to perform their version of Romeo & Juliet they were very excited. But they found out that memorising and understanding Shakespeare is a lot of hard work.

But with the help of their tutors they soon discovered that if you just take a little time Shakespeare isn't that hard after all.

''Tybalt''

''Nurse''

One of the problems was the characters. At first the students couldn't get a feel of their character so they worked on ideas from the group and from tutors but once they put down the script and started experimenting with their characters eg the way they move, speak and sit etc they soon began to develop their own character.

''Mercutio''

Another problem was some of the lines and I don't mean learning them. It was more of the ones where their were a string of words that either sounded alike or started with the same letters like ''TH'' eg ''these those'' etc so to overcome this difficulty the students had vocal exercises like stretching and using all of their mouth muscles, tongue-twisters and also practice on their articulation and pronunciation of their words.

They also had physical warm ups so that the fights in the play were safe not just for the performers but also for the nearby audience.

Tybalt slew Mercutio...

...then Romeo slew Tybalt

So with the co-operation of the staff of WALCAT and the National Diploma of Performing Arts Students, Romeo & Juliet was not just a pleasure to watch but also a stunning piece of performance.

Montague and Tybalt's servant
carry his body away while
the Capulets look on

Paris tries to win Juliet's hand
at Friar Lawrence's cell

Preparations for the marriage
of Juliet to Paris

Running repairs to
Tybalt's costume
backstage

If you would like more information about courses
offered please visit: Walsall College of Art and Technology

contact:suue@zetnet.co.uk