Romeo And Juliet: Riveting Performance By Shake And Stir Theatre Co.

“Romeo and Juliet” is a riveting performance by ‘Shake and Stir Theatre Co.’ about two star-crossed lovers that are pulled apart by an ancient feud between their families. It effectively employs dramatic languages to create a new depth and understanding of the traditional Shakespearean play. These include tension of relationships, focus and mood, as well as production elements such as set design, sound and directing. “Romeo and Juliet” successfully manipulates all of these elements to create an excellent show that explores the emotional whirlwind of love and hate.
Tension of relationships is significant when presenting a good performance, as it clearly displays the connections between the characters, and has been thoughtfully demonstrated in ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Tension has been used to represent different elements of the play such
Contemporary, upbeat, pop music is playing as the audience is seated, before a visual montage of images such as explosions, various iconic couples, hearts and ‘make love not war’ quotes is shown. These two things set the tone of the entire play and foreshadow the themes of love and hate. Music and visuals continue to work together throughout the performance to create the tone of each scene such as after Juliet meets Romeo, she is found in her bedroom with images of roses and a feminine song playing softly to represent the romantic mood. Additionally, stars are always shown whenever Romeo and Juliet are together, symbolising that they are eternally star-crossed since, after their death scene, stars continued to be shown. The actors also portrayed the performance humorously, giving it a comedic tone, such as how a male personated the maid, wore an amusing costume, and altered his voice and movements to entertain the audience. Thus, the element of mood has been effectively applied throughout the play, helping the performance to