William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo & Juliet, is coming to Norwood High School on Thurs, Nov. 20, Fri, Nov. 21, Sat, Nov. 22, and closing on Sun, Nov. 23. Under the direction of John Quinn, there will be a twist on the script.
It is set to run at 7 pm on all nights, with the exception of the last show, which is set for 2 pm on Sun. With a double casting that features over 50 students, cast 1 is set for nights one and three, as cast 2 prepares for nights two and four.
Traditionally a tragedy, the play is set to lean towards the comedy route.
(Kendra Berg)
“Most people don’t understand Shakespeare at all, and they think they do, and when they think of Romeo and Juliet, they think of this… torrid, you know, bodice-ripper, like, romance between these young people, um, and they think it’s super serious… It’s actually a comedy, until Mercutio dies.. So, yeah, no, it’s funny.. And even the speech that Romeo gives; ‘what light through yonder window breaks’ — it is the east, and Juliet is the sun.” said Director John Quinn, really characterizing Romeo for who he is— a teenager.
With the days counting down to opening night, it seems to be a challenge to take enough time to perfect the Elizabethan script, and though students agree that the language of the play is hard, it seems as though students have confidence in the way the play is turning out.
“The hardest part— and I want to emphasize this; memorizing Shakespeare. It is the hardest part, everyone is struggling with it, but together, we’re going to get through it. It’s just, it’s like learning a new language, basically. Because, it’s so much dialog, it’s so many monologues, it’s— and it’s all in Shakespearean language, so it’s… It’s tricky, but we’re getting there.” said Senior Ryan Needham, playing the role of Romeo Montague.
As all students who have taken an English class at Norwood High know, Shakespeare is an incredibly difficult, poetic language to learn, as it has vocabulary that is out of date on top of an unusual sentence structure, acknowledged by the majority of the cast. All of Shakespeare’s plays were meant to be performed rather than read, which makes memorization harder.
“Everyone in this cast is very talented, and everyone is putting a lot of hard work into it, so I think it’s going to be, like, perfection.” said Needham.
The Mustangs are prepared for an amazing four-night performance to showcase their talents and creativity. As next week approaches, all eyes turn to the stage, where students will bring their versions of the two feuding-families to life.
