Romeo & Juliet

By Zac & Aaron

Shakespeare
Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, about 100 miles northwest of London. According to the records of Stratford's Holy Trinity Church, he was baptized on April 26. Shakespeare wrote many plays including Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Much Ado about Nothing and a Midsummer Nights dream. Shakespeare married on the 27th November 1582 to a lady named Anna Hathaway. William Shakespeare had three children. Susanna was born in May 1583, six months after the wedding of her parents Anne Hathaway and William Shakespeare. The baptism of Susanna Shakespeare took place in Stratford Parish Church on May 26th 1583. Two years later in 1585 Anne and William's twins, Hamnet and Judith Shakespeare, were born. The baptism of Hamnet and Judith Shakespeare took place in Stratford Parish Church on February 2nd 1585. William Shakespeare was berried on 25th April 1616 in Stratford-upon-Avon, Greater London, England.

The Globe Theatre

The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and was destroyed by fire on June 29, 1613. A second Globe Theatre was rebuilt on the same site by June 1614 and closed in 1642. A modern reconstruction of the Globe, named "Shakespeare's Globe", opened in 1997. It is approximately 230 meters (750 ft) from the site of the original theatre.

Romeo & Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is an early tragedy by William Shakespeare about two teenage "star-cross'd lovers" whose "untimely deaths" ultimately unite their feuding households. The play has been highly praised by literary critics for its language and dramatic effect. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed plays. Its influence is still seen today, with the two main characters being widely represented as archetypal young lovers. Romeo and Juliet belongs to a tradition of tragic romances stretching back to Ancient Greece. Its plot is based on an Italian tale, translated into verse as The Tragically History of Romeus and Juliet by Arthur Brooke in 1562, and retold in prose in Palace of Pleasure by William Painter in 1582. Brooke and Painter were Shakespeare's chief sources of inspiration for Romeo and Juliet. He borrowed heavily from both, but developed minor characters, particularly Mercutio and Paris, in order to expand the plot. Believed written between 15911595, the play was first published in a quarto version in 1597. This text was of poor quality, and later editions corrected it, bringing it more in line with Shakespeare's original text.

Pictures

Romeo and Juliet Meet

The Famous Balcony Scene

Going to the Ball

Our Work
For our topic on Romeo and Juliet we first looked at the Globe theatre (Slide 3) this was very interesting because we went on a virtual website where we could watch the play and see how things looked many years ago and compare it to plays you can see now. Next we got sent the Romeo and Juliet DVD and book. We had to watch the DVD and try to understand some of the language used. Some of the language used in the film is hard to understand but we soon got to grips with it. We then had to look at different scenes of the play and try to understand what was happening and try to compare parts to the film. Lastly, we got a chance to re-shoot the film and change it how we wanted to. Zacs idea was to have a Car Club themed play with Jeremy Clarkson and Catherine Tate. Aarons idea was to keep the original story but to add extra parts and change the scene to Hollywood and Romeo and Juliet would drown.

Our Thoughts
Aaron I enjoyed doing the topic on Romeo and Juliet, it was very interesting and I liked the last piece of work the best. Zac - I enjoyed the Romeo and Juliet topic, I learnt a lot of factual information and my best piece of work was when we came up with our own ideas for the play.

Your Comments
Feel free to add your own opinions here;