When You Are In Love

“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? ... Romeo, doff thy name, and for thy name, which is no part of thee, talk all myself.” In a mid-summer night, a young, beautiful girl standing on her balcony, blinking her eyes, and thinking about her lover. A man hides behind a trunk, staring at her, and listening into her words. Their love seems simple and pure, but troubles are blocking their way.

Shakespeare’s works were written in an open type. Actors can express their own view of dialogue by using different tone and different action. Sometime even their dresses can affect audiences’ understanding of a character. Juliet in the Balcony scene was about 13 or 14 years old, she was innocent, pure, looking forward to true love. Romeo was a 20 years old boy who was deeply attracted by Juliet. He couldn’t wait to show her how much he loves her, he knows she is also waiting for his love.

In the 1968 version Juliet was in a white long hair, has a long, straight hair. She walks out her room and standing on her balcony, lay her chin on her hand. The background music was soft and slow, just like a bird singing about Romeo and Juliet’s love story. This is the version I find most effective. In this version, Juliet’s innocent was shown clearly. Her white dress has the meaning of pure and she smiles every time she mentions Romeo’s name, which shows her longing of love. Her eyes were lightning when she stars at the sky, she thinks, she speaks, she holds her hand together, puts in front of her chest, just like begging to the sky. All her action shows that she is just a young girl who immersed in love. Hamlet was surprise by her words, opens his eyes wide, saying ”Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?” When Juliet keeps talking, he looks down to hear, and when he hears “ Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.” He looks up again and smiles, just like Juliet’s words give him hope again. Unlike most other version, the Balcony scene was mostly around Julie. But in this one, Romeo has many scenes. Audiences can see his inner activity from his facial expression. If in this version, only Julie keeps talking and not giving any scene to Romeo, audiences are hard to feel his love to Juliet. By the end Juliet hug her self and laughed, which is a really important part of this scene. At the end of this scene, Romeo shouts to Juliet with loud voice, which shows how excited he was when hearing Juliet also loves him. The reason I like this version is not only because it successfully depicts Juliet’s figure but also depicts Romeo’s crush on Juliet.

On the other hand, the 2010 version is not that good. Juliet wears a dark long dress, setting on a wall, opening her legs, only looks up and down without any walking. When she speaks, she uses a really loud voice, which doesn’t belong to a young 13 year-old girl. When young girls think, they usually hold their head by their hand or putting their head on their knee, just like what 1968 version does. But in this one, the actor keeps rolling her eyeballs. A wrong dress, wrong voice, and wrong tone really affect Juliet’s figure. Who knows the women on stage is acting a pure little girl who is crushing on a boy? Also for the character Romeo, even though he wears hat and tries to pretend he was hiding, but when he speaks to Juliet, he puts his knee on floor. This action doesn’t show any excitements of Romeo. He even looks sideways to Julie. When you love someone and really want to tell her your love, won’t you look at her sincerely and speak to her with soft voice? This actor’s dresses and facial expression make him looks more like a thief who just stole a flower from Juliet’s balcony.