Troubles With Communication in Romeo y Julieta
Review of Romeo y Julieta presented by Seattle Shakespeare Company
Written by Vincent Vincent during an Arts Criticism workshop at Glacier Middle School
In the play Romeo y Julieta two teenagers meet and they fall in love. There are some complications between both of the families. Romeo's is a Montague and Julieta's is a Capulet; two opposing families. Julieta appears dead and Romeo sees that and he kills himself. Julieta saw that he was actually dead and then she kills herself. This play takes place in Italy and it is very unique. I liked the way that the actors knew what they were supposed to say and did not mess up their words, but I didn't like that I couldn't fully understand what they were saying sometimes.
I liked the way that the actors knew what they were supposed to say and did not mess up their words. I heard this when the actors were all doing their parts and speaking fluently. I also noticed this when they were fighting; they all knew what to say when they were yelling despite it being an intense moment; they were not stopping and trying to remember what they were supposed to say. This is important to me because It was enjoyable to listen to the play even if it was hard to understand sometimes.
I didn't like that I couldn't fully understand what they were saying some of the time. Throughout the play the actors would switch from Spanish to English. Now you might think "okay, it's just English and Spanish." Well it's not. The English was old English so the way they talked and their accents were different. I especially couldn't understand them when they were yelling. This changed my experience from watching the play because I wasn't able to fully understand what they were saying the whole time.
Overall I think the play would be about a six and a half out of ten. I do recommend watching this play. The actors do a great job and put in the work to make sure they play their roles. If you do decide to watch this play just make sure you pay attention closely so you don't miss any important part that you might miss if you are not listening.
Lead photo credit: Romeo y Julieta by Seattle Shakespeare Company. Photo by Christian Zumbado.
The TeenTix Press Corps promotes critical thinking, communication, and information literacy through criticism and journalism practice for teens. For more information about the Press Corps program see HERE.
This review was written as part of an Arts Criticism workshop at Glacier Middle School in Ms. Havran’s Language Arts classes, taught by Press Corps teaching artist Marquicia Dominguez and Jordi Montes
