Syncing Up My Ideas With My Paper

Ugh. I hate constructive criticism. It makes me rework things and reevaluate and have to do more work. Sigh. But it must be done. My gradebook will surely be grateful, but for now, I will complain.

I knew before I went to the writing center that my first body paragraph was, for lack of a better word, wonky. It didn’t flow exactly right, and the more I had talked out my analysis, I didn’t think it encapsulated everything I was going for. This was confirmed during my visit. Ms. Swift asked me questions that I had the answers to, but my paper did not. I know what I want my analysis to show, but I tend to try to include everything and everything is not relevant. I have to work on refocusing. I gave more context than necessary in some places and I overloaded others with quotes that didn’t really prove anything. I think my main offender was this first paragraph.

I also need to work on bringing it back to Shakespeare. I talked a lot about my performance and my paper was heavy with it. This is a paper that needs both analysis and performance. I provided context for the scene and a few sentences of analysis at the end of the paragraph, but I think I should probably try to integrate more. I get caught up in trying to explain all of the decisions in that scene that things become a little murky. Clarity is key and that is what I am hoping to achieve in my revision.

I also rearranged my thesis during my visit. Ms. Swift read the beginning of my paper and my  thesis didn’t line up with my argument. I knew there were a couple of awkward words, but I didn’t think any type of rewriting was necessary, but when you have some objectively read your work, they will see things wrong that you didn’t. But she called attention to the fact that my thesis promised a slightly different paper in regards to what I argued was the Nurse’s and Juliet’s relationship at the beginning of the play. I only ended up changing a few words, but I think they make a big difference and caused my paper to take a large step closer to my desired clarity.

Another thing I found I needed to work on was word count. Some of my sentences are cluttered. I could cut some unnecessary words here and there and have a shorter essay. This would give me the room I need to provide a clearer analysis and carry my intent for it throughout the paper. I have a plan in my head and I need to work on making sure it and my paper sync up.

During my visit, Ms. Swift just asked questions. When I had answers, I found that sometimes my paper didn’t. I’m not going to destroy my paper, but I do have to reevaluate, rearrange, reorganize. I’ll definitely go to the writing center again because even though constructive criticism leads to more work, it’s leading me to a better paper. Getting an outside opinion is crucial and I hope everyone realizes the value of the program.

An Odd Trip to Neverland

Peter Pan was not what I was expecting in, I assure you, a good way. My only fault with it did not even concern the performers. It's just that the Black Box is such a small space that doesn’t have a lot of room for maneuvering, and maneuvering was a huge part of this play. Scene changes were relatively frequent, but I like how elements from the previous setting remained in the new ‘land.’ The transitions were necessary, but they were also distracting. I was worried for the stage crew to get everything done. Especially that first change into Neverland when someone was struggling with the tree. I kept worrying that it was going to fall down instead of being pulled into the show. This problem could not have been overcome though. I don’t have any suggestions because I don't think any are available. It stinks that this play couldn’t have been performed exactly as I’m sure it was imagined.(We need a proper theater!)

I was very happy with Wendy and her brothers. I loved John and that little bit about boy children versus girl children. John  is a quirky character and I think Amalia did a great job showing that. Maddy was also a great Micheal. Her personality fitted this role perfectly and her whining and attachment to her teddy bear gave off the whole little boy vibe necessary for Micheal. Wendy was much sweeter than I remember( I admit I haven’t seen the movie in quite some time). I loved that Nana was the nurse and the dog. It was weird at first and even weirder later on, but I liked it. The lost boys were all very endearing. They had some great one-liners, as did Smee. He (she?) was my favorite character. That awkward evil laugh between him and Captain Hook was really funny and almost too long, which just made it better. Again the staging and the Black Box’s limitations kind of slowed the effects of some dramatic moments. There was a moment when Peter stood at Captain Hook’s wheel with his hook and hat and just moved the wheel slowly. People were confused, so there were cast members on stage and the lighting was a little off. I think I got the point, but it looked weird and not in the good way that the rest of the play was.

I loved the characterization of the people I knew well from stories and appreciated the spins that are actually original to the story (Captain Hook/ Mrs. Darling being played by the same person caused me to draw some interesting parallels). I really loved the play and just which we had the space for everyone that worked so hard, to properly show off their talent. I commend the amazing job that was done by everybody that it ran so smoothly and captured everyone's attention for the full two hours.

A Transition to Independence

  In her first appearance in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Juliet says marriage is “an honor that [she] dream[s] not of.” (1.3, 71)) At the beginning of the play, she is but a child. She is unfailingly loyal to her parents and promises that she will not “endart [her] eye” more than her parents’ “gives strength to make it fly.”(1.3, 104-105) But her mother’s concerns have less to do with the happiness of her daughter, but with ensuring the stability of a favorable match for her family’s reputation. When Lady Capulet exits without a final word of encouragement for her daughter, it is the Nurse who encourages Juliet to “ seek happy nights to happy days.”(1.3, 112) The Nurse has cared for Juliet since her infancy and treats her as a surrogate daughter. Her care is unwavering. Juliet is her pupil and seeks advice from her confidant, but after she meets Romeo, her perspective changes and her innocence is no longer ignorance. She begin to form her own opinions and think independently, which can be seen through how she distances herself from the Nurse. I staged Act 2 Scene 5, and excerpts from Act 3 Scene 2 and Act 3 Scene 5 to show this evolution. These scenes show the gradual process of Juliet outgrowing her Nurse. The changes in Juliet’s relationship with the Nurse, from close companions to a young woman and her childhood attendant,  provide evidence of Juliet’s evolution into an independent thinker. This evolution was shown by the Nurse's change from a boisterous and opinionated character to a more timid and openly powerless woman as Juliet's behavior transitioned from a childish girl to a more assertive young adult.

     Juliet's maturation throughout the play can easily be seen when juxtaposed to her childishness at the beginning of the play. Act 2 Scene 5 begins with the impatient rumblings of Juliet. Juliet, played by my partner, is awaiting the Nurse, played by me, who she had sent to gather the details of Romeo’s plans for marriage. She stomps her feet and shouts "she is lame!" in reference to how long the Nurse has been away.(2.5, 4) This emphasizes Juliet's childish impatience. When the Nurse enters, Juliet  immediately asks her of news from Romeo. The Nurse, instead of answering, says, “I am aweary, Give me leave awhile. Fie how my bones ache!”(2.5, 26-27) I chose to over exaggerate my weariness. I grasped at my back and rubbed my knees to show my discomfort. The Nurse is doing this as a way of teasing Juliet. I continued to exaggerate my aches and pains throughout the scene to play up that the Nurse was joking for the audience. Juliet remains oblivious, which solidifies that she is childish and easy to trick. Juliet continues to beg information from the Nurse, but the Nurse replies that she is out of breath. It was staged that Juliet stomped away after this complaint. While her back was turned, I had the Nurse look at Juliet's back and smile, but then begin to speak nonchalantly, almost flippantly, when she looked back at me. This demonstrated that the Nurse cared for Juliet and that her complaints we just for show. This happens again when the Nurse interrupts a description of Romeo with a “Have you dined at home?” Juliet continues to show that she is childish by stomping off whenever the Nurse doesn't tell her what she wants to hear.(2.5, 47) When Juliet voiced her objections to the Nurse’s out of context question, the Nurse again changes the subject, and to Juliet's dismay, complains that her head “beats as it would fall in twenty pieces!”(2.5,52) I exaggerated this by holding a hand to my head and putting on a very obvious “in pain” face. The Nurse’s teasing shows that she plays games with Juliet. She  does not encourage Juliet to be more mature even though she is considered of marrying age. She will have to tell Juliet Romeo's news, but teasing her and dragging out their exchange allows the Nurse to interact with Juliet as if she was still a child, her child. When the Nurse interrupts a description of Romeo with another irrelevant and off topic question - "where is your mother?"-, Juliet yells and stomps her feet.(2.5, 65) In response, I folded my arms across my chest and turned away from Juliet, but I smiled to show that the Nurse wasn’t truly angry, even though Juliet couldn’t see this. The Nurse wants Juliet to be happy, but in this scene I exaggerated and teased Juliet even though it made her angry, to show that the Nurse likes, even initiates, these conflicts because they bring her closer to Juliet. But eventually the Nurse does turn around with good news entailing Juliet’s marriage. I grasped Juliet’s hands and smiled widely at her to show how genuinely overjoyed the Nurse was with Juliet’s happiness. We over acted and over exaggerated the Nurse's discomforts and Juliet's tantrums to show that, in the beginning of the play, the Nurse still treats Juliet like a child and that Juliet still acts like one.

    Juliet's transition becomes clear in her new found authoritative tone in Act 3 Scene 2. This scene begins when I run in, visibly distressed. I ran my hands through my hair to show my distress. I start screaming that “he’s dead, he’s dead, he’s dead.”(3.2, 42) Shakespeare never names who it is that’s dead, so Juliet jumps to the worst case scenario. Juliet comes running to me from her seat across the stage. The Nurse is too invested in her own grief to pay much attention to Juliet, which I showed by looking out into the distance- toward the audience- instead of at Juliet. Juliet asks, “Can heaven be so envious?”(3.2, 45) I face Juliet and reply angrily and forcefully with “Romeo can,” but then I turn away and say mournfully that “heaven cannot," meaning that it is Romeo's fault not fate or God's, that Tybalt is dead.(3.2, 46-47) This is to show that I blame Romeo, but it also serves to further upset Juliet. She concludes that it is Romeo that is dead and that he might have killed himself. I only turned my attention fully to Juliet when I described the wound the Nurse saw to further demonstrate how distraught I was, before turning back to look out into the distance  and then at my shaking hands. I stepped forward when I cry out about Tybalt. Juliet becomes very upset after this, fearing that both are dead. This is when the Nurse finally realizes the misunderstanding that she caused. She remedies it with a slow and sad “Tybalt is gone” and then a short, clear, and angry “and Romeo banished.”(3.2, 75) This is to show that the Nurse holds disdain for Romeo and wants Juliet to know it. Displaying this attitude immediately also pushes Juliet to agree, which is what the Nurse wants Juliet to do. I faced Juliet and grabbed her arm and said this line while looking into her eyes. This acted as a kind of imposition of the Nurse’s views of Juliet. Juliet initially agrees with the Nurse, calling Romeo a “damned saint, an honorable villain,”(3.2, 85) but when the Nurse delivers an unrepentant “Shame come to Romeo,” Juliet experiences a shift.(3.2, 98) She begins to defend Romeo. She steps forward. This acts as a visual representation of Juliet’s defiance. She straightens her back to demonstrate her resolve. She gets angrier as she continues and calls herself “a beast to chide at him!”(3.2, 104) I take a step back to demonstrate that the Nurse is taking a back seat. In a lower, incredulous, and almost scandalized voice, I ask, “ Will you speak well of him that kill'd your cousin?”(3.2, 105) Juliet takes another step forward and begins to valiantly defend her husband. Originally, the Nurse and Juliet were standing side by side, but now the Nurse is up stage and further stage right, while Juliet has gone downstage and further stage left. This shows a physical separation to pair with the growing emotional one. When Juliet begins to cry, she turns away from my outstretched hand. The Nurse then exits to retrieve Romeo to comfort her. The Nurse is no longer Juliet's source of comfort. In this scene, Juliet begins to show the the audience that she can think for herself and is ready to stand up for what she cares about.

     In Act 3 Scene 5, Juliet and the Nurse's relationship suffers irreparable damage. We only performed the ending of the scene that took place between just the Nurse and Juliet. It begins with Juliet throwing herself on the floor and burying her head in the Nurse's lap. She's crying over her father's threat of disownment if she didn't marry Paris. She's desperate for the comfort of her Nurse, who has been the only person on her side since she was born. She ask for comfort and counsel, but the advice the Nurse gave was not what Juliet wanted. The Nurse said that, because the circumstances were what they were, she thought "it best [she] married with the County."(3.5, 230) I had been petting Juliet's head in a comforting gesture, and at these words, Juliet quickly removed herself from my lap and pushed herself away a distance. I moved  toward her to comfort her and explain myself, but as I reached toward her, she turned her head away from my hand. This shows that Juliet was rejecting the comfort of her Nurse. She no longer needed her childhood companion. I spoke softer in this scene than in the previous ones. I tried to demonstrate through my comforting gestures and placating tone that the Nurse only wanted what was best for Juliet because she cared for her. Juliet agreed with the Nurse, but she spoke monotonously and sat stiffly next to her, which showed that she didn't actually agree with the Nurse. When the Nurse exits to send news to Juliet, Juliet gets up and rants. She is angry that the Nurse, who had praised Romeo, was telling her to break her marriage vows. She hid her true feelings from the Nurse because she no longer felt she could trust her. She realizes she is effectively on her own with Romeo banished and is not afraid to take her own life if it comes down to it. My partner stood proud and spoke defiantly as she spoke this final monologue. This scene shows Juliet's move toward independence.

     Through the first scene in our sequence, my partner and I established that Juliet still had the mind of a wistful child at the beginning of the play, who relied on the support and confidence of the Nurse. In the second scene, Juliet receives bad news, and instead of seeking the comfort of the Nurse, seeks Romeo to ease her pain. She boldly and fiercely defends Romeo and chides the Nurse for treating him as the bad guy. She still shares most aspects of her life with the Nurse, but by the last scene, Juliet is hiding her emotions from the Nurse. She lies to the Nurse about her intentions and rejects her comfort. Throughout the play, Juliet outgrows the Nurse's companionship. She begins to take her life into her own hands, disregarding even the most well intended advice in favor of her own will. Juliet's distancing from the Nurse runs parallel to her maturation. In my scenes, we evolved our posturing and switched our roles in terms of dominance. Juliet was the bold one, while the Nurse becomes softer and more in Juliet's background. In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the Nurse's shrinking role in Juliet's life can be used as an indication of Juliet's growing maturity.

Revision of Body Paragraph One

        Juliet's maturation throughout the play can easily be seen when juxtaposed to her childishness at the beginning of the play. Act 2 Scene 5 begins with the impatient rumblings of Juliet. Juliet, played by my partner, is awaiting the Nurse, played by me, who she had sent to gather the details of Romeo’s plans for marriage. She stomps her feet and shouts "she is lame!" in reference to how long the Nurse has been away. This emphasizes Juliet's childish impatience. When the Nurse enters, Juliet  immediately asks her of news from Romeo. The Nurse, instead of answering, says, “I am aweary, Give me leave awhile. Fie how my bones ache!” I chose to over exaggerate my weariness. I grasped at my back and rubbed my knees to show my discomfort. The Nurse is doing this as a way of teasing Juliet. She’s egging Juliet on. I continued to exaggerate my aches and pains throughout the scene to play up that the Nurse was joking for the audience. Juliet remains oblivious, which solidifies that she is childish and easy to trick. Juliet continues to beg information from the Nurse, but the Nurse replies that she is out of breath. It was staged that Juliet stomped away after this complaint. While her back was turned, I had the Nurse look at Juliet's back and smile, but then begin to speak nonchalantly, almost flippantly, when she looked back at me. This demonstrated that the Nurse cared for Juliet and that her complaints we just for show. This happens again when the Nurse interrupts a description of Romeo with a “Have you dined at home?” Juliet continues to show that she is childish by stomping off whenever the Nurse doesn't tell her what she wants to hear. When Juliet voiced her objections to the Nurse’s out of context question, the Nurse again changes the subject, and to Juliet's dismay, complains that her head “beats as it would fall in twenty pieces!” I exaggerated this by holding a hand to my head and putting on a very obvious “in pain” face. The Nurse’s teasing shows that she plays games with Juliet. She  does not encourage Juliet to be more mature even though she is considered of marrying age. The Nurse wants to preserve Juliet’s childhood by holding off the impending love affair. She will have to tell Juliet Romeo's news, but teasing her and dragging out their exchange allows the Nurse to interact with Juliet as if she was still a child, her child. When the Nurse interrupts a description of Romeo with another irrelevant and off topic question - "where is your mother?"-, Juliet yells and stomps her feet. In response, I folded my arms across my chest , but I smiled to show that the Nurse wasn’t truly angry, even though Juliet couldn’t see this. The Nurse wants Juliet to be happy, but in this scene I exaggerated and teased Juliet even though it made her angry, to show that the Nurse likes, even initiates, these conflicts because they bring her closer to Juliet. The Nurse is trying to hold on to Juliet, which shows that she fears the changes that will come as Juliet grows up. But when the Nurse finally turns around, it is with good news that Romeo waits at Friar Lawrence’s cell to marry Juliet. I grasped Juliet’s hands and smiled widely at her to show how genuinely overjoyed the Nurse was with Juliet’s happiness. We over acted and over exaggerated the Nurse's discomforts and Juliet's tantrums to show that the Nurse still treats Juliet like a child and that Juliet still acts like one. 

Thesis and Outline for 'A Transition to Independence'

A Transition to Independence

Thesis:

The changes in Juliet’s relationship with the Nurse, from close companions to a young woman and her childhood attendant,  provide evidence of Juliet’s evolution into an independent thinker. This evolution was shown by the Nurse's change from a boisterous and opinionated character to a more timid and openly powerless woman as Juliet's behavior transitioned from a childish girl to a more assertive young adult.

Outline:

1. Intro
2. Body Paragraphs:

1 & 2: Analysis and performance choices for Act 2 Scene 5- Nurse’s exaggerated complaints and hidden smiles and Juliet’s childish stomping

3 & 4: Analysis and performance choices for Act 3 Scene 2- Juliet’s new assertiveness in tone and Nurse takes a step back

5 (& 6): Analysis and performance choices for Act 3 Scene 5- Nurse becomes timid in her advice, placating; Juliet stands defiant and not so willing to please

     3. Conclusion

The Transition to Independence- First Draft

In her first appearance, Juliet says marriage is “an honor that [she] dream[s] not of.” At the beginning of the play, she is but a child. She is unfailingly loyal to her parents and promises that she will not “endart [her] eye” more than her parents’ “gives strength to make it fly.” Her mother’s concerns have less to do with the happiness of her daughter, but with ensuring the stability of a favorable match for her family’s reputation. When Lady Capulet exits without a final word of encouragement for her daughter, it is the Nurse who encourages Juliet to “ seek happy nights to happy days.” The Nurse has cared for Juliet since her infancy and treats her as a surrogate daughter. Her care is unwavering. Juliet is her pupil and seeks advice from her confidant, but after she meets Romeo, her perspective changes and her innocence is no longer ignorance. She begin to form her own opinions and think independently, which can be seen through how she distances herself from the Nurse. I staged Act 2 Scene 5, and excerpts from Act 3 Scene 2 and Act 3 Scene 5 to show this evolution. These scenes show the gradual process of Juliet outgrowing her Nurse. The changes in Juliet’s relationship with the Nurse, from close companions to a young woman and her outgrown attendant,  provide evidence of Juliet’s evolution into an independent thinker.

After meeting with Romeo on her balcony, Juliet sends the Nurse to gather the details of Romeo’s plans and to make sure that there are actually plans to have. In Act 2 Scene 5, the Nurse  returns with news, but is reluctant to share it. The scene begins with impatient rumblings of Juliet. When the Nurse enters, Juliet  immediately asks her of news from Romeo. The Nurse, instead of answering, says, “I am aweary, Give me leave awhile. Fie how my bones ache!” I played the Nurse in this scene. I chose to over exaggerate my weariness. I grasped at my back and rubbed my knees to show my discomfort. The Nurse is doing this in a teasing manner. She’s egging Juliet on. I continued to exaggerate my aches and pains throughout the scene to play up that the Nurse was joking for the audience. Juliet remains oblivious, which solidifies that she is childish and easy to trick. Juliet continues to beg information from the Nurse, but the Nurse replies that she is out of breath. It was staged that Juliet stomped away after this complaint. While her back was turned, I had the Nurse look to her and smile, but then begin to speak nonchalantly, almost flippantly, when Juliet looked back at me. This demonstrated that the Nurse cared for Juliet and was just trying to get a rise out of her. This happens again when the Nurse interrupts a description of Romeo with a “Have you dined at home?” Juliet stomps her feet and the Nurse smiles at her back. Juliet continues to show that she is childish. When the Nurse begins her descriptions of Romeo, it was staged that Juliet looked off into the distance as if she was imagining him. This shows that the Nurse still treats Juliet like a child and that Juliet still acts like one.

When Juliet voiced her objections to the Nurse’s out of context question, the Nurse complains her head “beats as it would fall in twenty pieces!” I exaggerated this by holding a hand to my head and putting on a very obvious “in pain” face. The Nurse’s teasing shows that she plays games with Juliet. She still treats Juliet as a child, like she is protecting her, even though she is considered of marrying age. The Nurse appears to want to preserve Juliet’s childhood. I demonstrated this again when I had the Nurse get up and turn her back to Juliet after Juliet explains about “how oddly [the Nurse] repliest” when the Nurse interrupts another description of Romeo with the question of “where is your mother?” The Nurse folds her arms, but I smiled to show that the Nurse wasn’t truly angry, even though Juliet couldn’t see this. When the Nurse finally turns around, it is with good news that Romeo waits at Friar Lawrence’s cell to marry Juliet. I grasped Juliet’s hands and smiled widely at her to show how genuinely overjoyed the Nurse was with Juliet’s happiness.

The next scenes, Act 3 Scene 2, starts off less happily. I had the Nurse run in, but stop before reaching Juliet, who is sitting down at the beginning of the scene. I ran my hands through my hair to show my distress. Juliet comes to me. I start screaming that “he’s dead, he’s dead, he’s dead.” Shakespeare never names who it is that’s dead, so Juliet jumps to the worst case scenario. The Nurse is too invested in her own grief to pay much attention to Juliet. Juliet asks, “Can heaven be so envious?” I face Juliet and reply angrily and forcefully with “Romeo can,” but then I turn away and say mournfully that “heaven cannot.” This is to show that I blame Romeo, but it also serves to further upset Juliet. She concludes that it is Romeo that is dead and that he might have killed himself. I remain distracted and pay little attention to Juliet, which shows that I am overwhelmed with the situation. I turn to Juliet and grasp her arms when I describe the wound the Nurse saw to further demonstrate this. I stared at my hands that were shaking or I turned off into the distance. I stepped forward when I cry out about Tybalt. Juliet becomes very upset after this, fearing that both are dead. This is when the Nurse finally realizes the misunderstanding that she caused. She remedies it with a slow and sad “Tybalt is gone” and then a short, clear, and angry “and Romeo banished.” This is to show that the Nurse holds disdain for Romeo and wants Juliet to know. Displaying this attitude immediately also pushes Juliet to agree, which is what the Nurse wants Juliet to do. I faced Juliet and grabbed her arm and said this line while looking into her eyes. This acted as a kind of imposition of the Nurse’s views of Juliet. The Nurse was rallying Juliet to anger. This is what Juliet felt initially. She agrees with the Nurse, calling Romeo a “damned saint, an honorable villain,” but when the Nurse delivers an unrepentant “Shame come to Romeo,” Juliet experiences a shift.

Juliet begins to defend Romeo. She steps forward. this acts as a visual representation of Juliet’s defiance. She straightens her back to demonstrate her resolve. She gets angrier as she continues and calls herself “a beast to chide at him!” I take a step back to demonstrate that the Nurse is taking a back seat. In a lower, incredulous, and almost scandalized voice, I ask, “ Will you speak well of him that kill'd your cousin?” Juliet takes another step forward and begins to valiantly defend her husband. Originally, the Nurse and Juliet were standing side by side, but now the Nurse is up stage and further stage right, while Juliet has gone downstage and further stage left. This shows a physical separation to pair with the growing emotional one.

To follow:

• evaluation of the end of the second scene- Juliet giving the Nurse the cold shoulder and how the Nurse is no longer the one to comfort Juliet
• Reflection of third scene- Last time Juliet seeks the Nurse’s advice; Nurse’s advice for Juliet is only for Juliet’s well-being; Juliet’s immediate objection that she then hides- lying to Nurse; Juliet’s final stand
• Conclusion

Outgrowing Old Habits and Becoming Self Reliant

The video link below is for the compilation of scenes for analysis. I play the Nurse and Charlie plays Juliet. Enjoy!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=cUQNRK13bmQ

A Conscious Performance

     The goal of this analysis piece was to look deeper into the text. It was to display the content in such a way that you presented a commentary on the play. I chose to focus on Juliet and her evolution for this assignment. This is a play that is centered around destiny, but Juliet is not helpless to fate's whims. She evolves as a character from a little girl to a grown woman. She lives in a time period where girls' lives were determined by the fathers who often had their own goals when deciding the man they were to give their daughter to. She's not much for much besides giving birth to a wealthy gentleman's children. Juliet, especially, is used as a pawn in her father's political and economic game plan. The only person who cares for her is the Nurse. Juliet's mother most likely suffered the fate that is encroaching on her daughter and has not built a close relationship with her, but the Nurse has acted as her only friend, as well as her only nurturing figure. They are close. They tease each other, and as much as Juliet looks to the Nurse as a mother figure, the Nurse also looks toward Juliet as a daughter. But the Nurse is a childhood companion, and throughout this play, Juliet grows further away from her. Juliet takes her story into her own hands. Romeo had given her freedom and she was obsessed with it. She continues to go against society's conventions and becomes an independently minded individual, but in doing so, she turns away from her childhood crutch. In my scene sequence, Charlie and I hoped to use the evolution of the Nurse's role in relationship to Juliet to demonstrate Juliet's evolution into maturity. 

     With an idea we were both really excited about, we got to work. I played the Nurse and Charlie played Juliet. Our first draft was solid. We had presented the scenes in a way I was happy about, but we still needed to fine tune some of the nuances of the scene. The first scene of the sequence is one that I performed with Charlie before. Before, I had played her as a dimwitted character who was easily distracted, but for the purpose of this analysis, I played her more as a teasing character. I wanted her to egg on Juliet to show that Juliet was still quick to frustration and that she was still as emotional as a child, but I also wanted it clear that the Nurse cared a lot about her. Charlie really had to step up her foot stomping game, which she did marvelously well, but other than that, she had done well acting childish in both drafts, so I was really happy with the result. I still had a tough time acting out that I was teasing her, but I tried smiling notably at her when she was staring off into the distance imagining Romeo and then doing a weird head thing to show that I was acting dramatic purposefully. I know what I was doing, but I think the gesture might be just specific to me, so I don't know if it translated as I wanted it to. I wish I was completely off book, and I was pretty close, but I think I got nervous that I would forget something and was more reliant on it then I needed to be.

     The second scene was really pivotal for our analysis. My favorite part of what we did was when Charlie yelled at me for shaming Romeo. Her voice got louder and stronger. She took a step toward the audience and I stepped back. This showed how Juliet had grown more confident. Toward the end, I reached my hand toward Charlie and she pushed it away. The gesture really emphasized how Juliet was outgrowing the Nurse. We talked a lot about gesturing. I was happy with what we did with the scene. I liked the hair petting in the third scene and Charlie's raised voice and clearly enunciated threat of suicide. I think we needed to work on our timing and pacing. There were times we tripped over each other to say our lines lr rushed through a monologue. We definitely improved since the first draft, but some points felt a little rushed. I'm not very good at gauging the length of a pause. At one point, I had forgotten a sentence at the end of an explanation. I though the pause was too long, so I said, but that just made the scene more awkward. 

     We used minimal props. We revolved around a chair in the first two scenes and a bed in the second. This kept the focus on the two characters. They revolved around each other and spent most of the scene looking at each other. There are external factors that are motivating Juliet's change, but we can see it clearly in the conversations she has with the Nurse. My costume wasn't fancy. A dress was covered with a white apron, and the blue ribbons attached to the dress sleeves were tucked it. It wasn't flashy because after all she's basically a servant. Charlie was dressed in a white dress. This was done to represent her innocence, because despite, her growing independence, she still was a girl. I think the costuming helped to demonstrate that the Nurse was just Juliet's servant. The difference was especially important in the second two scenes to show that the two close friends were different from each other. The costumes were indicative of the the characters' actual societal status, but also, later on, acted as a commentary of the divide between the two characters.

     This assignment has made me pay very close attention to detail. Facial expressions and hand gestures are important when you are trying to convey a scene a certain way. One scene can be presented a myriad of different ways, so it is important that you are conscious of the interpretation you want to perform and that you let this guide your blocking and tone decisions. My performing decisions have become more conscious decisions. I think about what I want to achieve and what tone a person would use to achieve that. It is important to get to know your character well. I got to know the Nurse, so I could determine her motivations. I think my performances have become more thought out. I think doing this pre-performing internal analysis that I'm becoming more confident on stage. I hope that it reflects in my work.

                                    

Take One: Comments and Criticisms

      I'm happy with how our first draft came out. Charlie and I had both performed the first scene in our three part sequence before, but this time we had to adjust our characters. The Nurse had to be played as if she were teasing Juliet instead of as if she was a little slow. I have to work more on making this a little more obvious. I ask Juliet if she had eaten yet after I've trailed off when describing Romeo. Charlie did a good job of making Juliet look as if she was in her own little world imagining him, but when I switch from describing him to asking her if she had eaten, I think making the transition more obvious would help to further demonstrate their relationship. It would show that though the Nurse is teasing her, she loves Juliet. Juliet's reactions to the teasing was good because it made her look childish, which is the goal of that scene.

     The next two scenes were new to us, but I feel like we got the timing right. The second scene is when we first see Juliet stand up for herself. When Charlie started yelling and defending Romeo, she stepped up and I stepped back. I think this change will be even more obvious when we learn our lines. Once we're off-book, we'll be able to focus on our movements and the little gestures that could further demonstrate Juliet's change and how she grew further from the Nurse, like when Juliet turns away from my touch in the second scene. These little gestures were rushed because I would be too busy reading and then before I knew it, it was time for that to happen and I was several steps away from her. Overall, I think it was a good first draft, that with memorization, could form a solid base for our analysis.  

     

      

     

The Nurse's Secret Smiles

I'm going to play the Nurse as a teasing character instead of a dimwitted one. I'll still over dramatize her deliveries, but they will be after a couple of small smiles at Juliet and a look at her when she's exasperated. I will of course be devastated by Tybalt's death. I'll play it up with tears and insults thrown at Romeo, but I'll move to be Juliet's shoulder to cry on instead of be crying on hers. As the story gets more serious, my care for Juliet will be seen more clearly, but my theatrics at the beginning of Act 3 Scene 2 will stay intact, but will mostly be gone by Act 3 Scene 5. Her teasing needs to come off as good hearted, so I'll smile when Juliet's back is turned and then return to a woman with aching bones when she looks at me.  The Nurse's character shouldn't change, so the undercurrent of care for Juliet will have to always be present. I will rush to find Romeo when Juliet starts sobbing. I will look devastated that she's so upset.