Act 3 scene 1 is about Tybalt wanting to fight Romeo for something that happened earlier on in the play. What happened was that Romeo (Montague), who is in love with Rosaline, arrives at the Capulet’s house party uninvited in an effort to forget Rosaline and to mend his broken heart. At this party he met Juliet, and immediately fell in love with her. He later finds out that she is a Capulet; the rival family of the Montagues. He decides that he loves her anyway and they confess their love for each other and they agree to secretly marry the next day. Friar Lawrence agrees to marry them in an effort to end the feuding between the families. Tybalt (Capulet) however does not know about Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other but his reason for wanting to fight Romeo was for Romeo turning up at his family’s party uninvited.
The cause of the feud should be kept the same as it was originally. The feud originally was bred of a hurtful word said about one of the two families. It should be kept like this because hurtful words still are the cause of fights in modern times.
In order to modernise the play, changes should be made to the character’s costumes. Different colours could be used to symbolise the characters personalities. For example, Tybalt wearing a black costume to symbolise he is a bad character and that he has a short temper.
The type of stage the play should be directed on is a stage that has
a rectangular shape and the audience should be positioned at the front.
This type of stage and the positioning of the audience is the sort that is most widely used in theatre however, it is suited to Romeo and Juliet because the audience need to be able to see the full stage in order to interpret and understands the events of the play. In stage directions for the scene, Shakespeare states that it is hot and therefore an appropriate backdrop would show a beach along with a hut/bar. This would not only modernise the scene due to the bar but the colours of the beach like yellow and orange would emphasise the heat. Further on in the scene, Tybalt leaves after having killed Mercutio, one of Romeos best friends. Here, the backdrop should change because Tybalt has gone off stage and Romeo has gone to find him. The backdrop should show a road as it shows movement and suggests that Romeo is trying to find someone or something. The backdrop should then change to a town when Tybalt has been found by Romeo and this is where the fight should take place. The backdrop should not change from here on.
The use of lighting in the play should be used in different ways when different major events are happening. Firstly, when Tybalt fights Mercutio in the heat the colours should be intense red. This not only emphasises the heat but also symbolises anger and all the characters are going to be hot, bothered and tempers will be raging. There should be similar colours in the second fight between Romeo and Tybalt but not as much reds and hot colours as the setting has changed and it is later on in the day, so therefore the temperature is a lot cooler. There should still be a suttle bright red light to highlight the anger Romeo is feeling after Tybalt has just killed is best friend.
When Romeo and Juliet are getting married there should be a soft but quite bright light shining directly on Romeo and Juliet and the rest of the stage should be in darkness to focus the audience’s attention completely on Romeo and Juliet. This focus is important as on stage there will be light shining in from off stage and the audience will be drawn into thinking about Romeo and Juliet’s wedding even though it is not happening on stage. Although this does not happen in Shakespeare’s script it should be included in a modern version to contrast and emphasise the fight. This also reminds the audience that as well as the theme of violence, there is also love.
In the play there should be characters wearing different costumes to modernise the play and they should wear different colours to symbolise
the personalities of the characters and show the differences in personality.
In the play Tybalt should be wearing black to symbolise he is a bad character with an angry temper. Romeo should wear red to show that he is in love. If Romeo were to wear red this would also symbolise death which happens through the scene and later on in the play. Mercutio should also be wearing red throughout act 3 scene 1 to show is anger and short temper. Also Mercutio should be dressed in red to represent his death in the middle of the act.
Romeo and Juliet as a play overall is a timeless classic with important messages and ideas about family honour and love. Through Act 3 Scene 1 we see the extent that families are prepared to go to in order to protect their family’s honour and whilst looking at Shakespeare’s script we are able to familiarise ourselves with many aspects of the play including the way the feud in the scene started. I feel that it is important that the original message that Shakespeare tried to convey through the writing of this scene remains the same.
