A Play On Words: Critique of Romeo y Julietta

Last week I saw an adaptation of Shakespeares timeless play Romeo and Juliet titled Romeo y Julietta. Combining the skeleton of the original play with modern and Hispanic elements (wildly reminiscent of West Side Story) the play had an enjoyable feel, even if slightly watered down. There were many interesting elements which I noted, one of them being the set. Taking a more minimalist and portable approach, the set is designed such that the actors all sit on boxes around the edge when they aren't center stage. They continued to participate by being the sound team. I had never seen anything like this before and felt that it added to the effect greatly. I also noted the lighting didn't play as major a roll as I have otherwise seen, but the minimalist approach was tasteful. The costuming was also minimalist, the actors wearing ponchos and aprons over street clothes. I found this to be an interesting nod to the modern times and culture of the actors, playing roles of an ancient classic. Also I felt, that while the attempt at combining region appropriate cultural aspects to the timeless classic was in theory refreshing, the hybrid dialogue felt cumbersome and stepped on the toes of the difficult to reconcile with early modern English, but the actors were versatile and acted with poise and humor, despite the difficulty of the task and made the play more than just bearable, but enjoyable. Overall, Romeo y Julietta was a fun and humorous take on one of my favorite plays, and I'm sure it will be enjoyed by both lovers of Shakespeare and Hispanic comedy alike.

Family Feud, Not the Game Show: A Production Analysis of Romeo Y Julieta

Throughout Thursday performance of  Romeo Y Julieta, audience members might have heard tinkling chuckles from me as I pictured Shakespeare, (in colorful trousers) watching this little rendition of his teen romance novel. Many theatrical approaches the director took seemed to be in effort to cater to their younger audience. Some aspects detracted from the potential of the show, and some enhanced.

One instance of detraction is demonstrated in the blocking of the interactions between the Montague side and the Capulletti Side. They felt comfortable imposing on the turf of their feuding partners. When the nurse intrudes on Romeo's friends, there is no hostility. Even the sword fights lacked an animosity between the two groups. Tybalt allows himself to be physically taunted by Benvolio, which insinuates a certain point of comfortability. Benvolio clasps his hand on Tybalt's shoulder with little consequence, and there is no fear when they get closer to each other. Their lighthearted nature doesn't take into account the serious nature of a duel and the real consequences of death. I assume they took on a stance of levity because they didn't want to intimidate the younger audience members. However, the reconciliation between the Montegue's and the Capulletti's has a heartier sense of purpose the more dangerous the rivalry seems. I wondered if the children understood how grave the risks for for Romeo and Julieta to be together were, how detrimental prejudice can be, and how rewarding it can be to overcome that.
Despite that specific flaw, I thought the choice to merge what is perceived as traditional shakespearan garb with more modern apparel was an appropriate choice to help younger kids relate to the characters, and it matched the lighthearted mood of the play. Interestingly, while Romeo and Julieta are the true rebels of the story, they wear more traditional clothing. Benvelio and Tybalt adhere to the expectations of rivalry set before them, and they wear more urban clothes of jeans and sweatshirts. To me, the more formal clothes of the lovers symbolizes how innocent they see their tryst. If they were sporting more modern clothes it might seem like a statement against tradition, but instead, it's a statement about how strong love is. They aren't actively defying their parents as much as they are actively pursuing love. 

Amor Verdadero: Analyzing "Romeo y Julieta"

This Saturday I went to see a rendition of Shakespeare's classic Romeo and Juliet, "Romeo y Julieta," adapted for a younger audience and done partially in Spanish. The cast preforms this version of the play traveling to different elementary schools as well as in theaters, and therefore kept their props and settings minimal. However, the use of the set and props they did have added greatly to the play's themes and its appeal to a younger audience. The actors never left the stage during the play, instead sitting on the sides on bench-like props when their characters were not needed in a scene. They were not idle on these benches, however, they were used in different ways depending on the need of the scene. For example, during fight scenes they would stomp their feet and use the benches as instruments in a sort of war-cry, and during intense moments they would use their voices to build intensity with a sort of "oooo" song and abruptly end during the most pivotal moment of the scene. They would also whistle like the wind, or react to the scene's action-- again helping younger audiences to understand what was most important in the play. They would also move the benches around to create settings including Julieta's balcony and her crypt. The other minimal set design were simply flags of fabric that showed by symbol whose houses they were in, or if they were in the church. Because of its minimalism, their use of set design and props added greatly to the play's appeal, and emphasized its most important themes.

Hanging by a Thread

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Pierce is a short but captivating work of fiction, containing many sophisticated tools and methods of composition which quickly and deeply captivate the reader for the 4-5 pages of it's literary life. One of the first ones to jump out was the author's style. In order to understand the plot and the theme, the entire story has to be read, but the way the author unfolds the story through heavy description is interesting. Seemingly everything is described in detail: the way the fish moves, the way the guns glint in the sunlight, the way the body swings under the bridge etc. This creates a sense of presence. The reader feels like they are there, experiencing what all of the characters are experiencing. In addition to that, it almost heightens the reader's senses, by giving a greater description of things than what would normally be experienced. That way the author captures the belief and the attention to the point where any surprise is an emotional one. The way the story ends leaves you thinking even more than it would otherwise because you were there, hanging under the bridge, slowly swaying in the breeze.

This, the author’s style, bleeds into a lot of other aspects of the story, especially in the characters. It’s difficult to know who the protagonist and the antagonist are because the author focuses extensively and evenly on both. It’s not until the middle of the story that a side is taken, and even then a weak one. The man being hanged is described from his dress, the quality of his nose and forehead, all the way down to the collar of his well fitting frock coat. It feels almost as though you know him. He was someone you passed in the mall this morning and the sense of familiarity causes a deeper connection when you see him hanging. But on top of this, the lack of character development leaves you wondering if you’re cheering for the right man. Are the soldiers executing a murderer or a traitor? Is this nice man really on the nice list? We never really know. All we know is how it feels seeing him hanging under a bridge, slowly swaying in the breeze. This deepens creates and deepens one of the major thematic elements of the story, is everyone the good guy in his own autobiography.

I’ll believe it when I see it: An Analysis of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"

When I first encountered Ambrose Bierce’s An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, I was immediately intrigued by its title. To me, it seemed that an occurrence is usually a matter of routine, an event of little importance, hardly worth writing a story about. My first question was clear: what made this occurrence especially noteworthy? As I read, it became clear to me that this was no ordinary incident. In fact, the narrative became so intense that I began to wonder whether this thrilling escape story could really be classified as an occurrence at all. The irony present there kept me reading in intent curiosity. The bold, clear imagery that followed made me feel like I was feeling the action right along with Farquhar—even when in some instances, I would have been far more comfortable at a distance. This imagery drew me in and helped me to believe that what was occurring was real. I never doubted Farquhar’s incredible escape for a second—that is, not until the imagery became blurry very near the end of the story. Suddenly, I questioned if the narrator was quite as reliable as I had first believed. Farquhar seemed unsure of where he was—and suddenly he was in his wife’s welcoming arms. This sudden inconsistency was unexpected and harshly juxtaposed to the rest of the flowing, vibrant, and breath-taking imagery present throughout Farquhar’s story. Then came the final, pivotal paragraph in which you discover that Farquhar in truth died on that bridge, and that you have been taken on a ride through his mind and not a ride through reality. Abruptly you understand that the occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge was truly just an occurrence—an execution routine and unremarkable in such a bloody wartime setting. The theme and implication of such a story merit an essay in their own right, but the irony and imagery Bierce wielded in this story are what allowed it to be crafted so poignantly in the first place. The irony of the title and the abrupt ending explanation are what make this story so remarkable, and the imagery throughout the story are what make it so believable. The reader is truly drawn in and deceived, and thereby becomes privy to Bierce’s complex thoughts and intentions as unsettled thoughts develop naturally within the reader all on their own.

Who Tells the Story of an Occurrence

 An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Pierce achieves the elusive accomplishment of smearing nitty-gritty realities of death in the face of the reader. That depiction is made particularly poignant by comparing it with the vibrancy of life. A dominant facet of the story is the more intimate perspective the author chose to tell it from. The story opens with a civilian in the thick of being hung at Owl Creek Bridge in Alabama. Creeks inevitably are crawling with life. Although that might seem minute from a different perspective, it is an important fact of the story and the main character's perspective. Water sustains living creatures of innumerable sizes, and is almost a life source itself. It also has the capacity to kill. In the middle of his daunting journey through death, the main character, Peyton Farquhar, consistently reacts to the bustling liveliness of the water and nature surrounding him, all the while fearing he will succumb to drowning. Later on after he has supposedly absconded from his hanging ropes he describes the woods and water for some time. This detail of nature communicates his supposed control of his senses, but also contrasts the moments of death with the potential of life. Surrounded by so many surging life forces, his will to live is exaggerated, and the immediacy of death is more dominant. When the reader discovers he never actually ran through those woods, it creates an fiercer dynamic, almost a plea to the reader to appreciate the life blossoming around the world. Another aspect of his perspective that elevated the message was the distinct personality of Peyton, juxtaposing the modern American's expectation of a slave-owner. In spite of myself, I find I want him to escape. He is depicted as a protagonist who fights for what he believes in, and wants to return to his beloved family. The fact that his convictions preside in slavery is abhorrent, but isn't the crux of the story. If it were told from the union soldier's perspective, the reader would vehemently wish for him to be caught and served justice. I would imagine his misdeeds would play a larger role. As it is now, there is an empathy present for this man, because it we explore his thoughts. He is more of a human than anyone else in the story. In the modern reading, that is an interesting dichotomy worth exploring. 

Analyzing the Occurrence

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is a beautifully written short story by Ambrose Bierce that captivates the mind of the reader. The first thing that we notice while reading the story is the author's tone. From the start, we know that something is wrong. We can feel it from the words on the page. Then through Bierce's imagery, we see a man standing on a bridge with a noose around his neck and we realize that we are witnessing his last moments of life. As we look at the man, there is a sense of mystery and wonder that Bierce conveys in his writing. The tone of the poem feels dark even as we are introduced to this first simple scene. As a reader, this made me wonder what was going to happen to this main character. I asked myself if he was going to escape and how he was going to pull it off. But the tone of darkness made me questions my assumptions and wonder if he was going to die. As we get to know the man better--Peyton Farquhar--we are also introduced to his beautiful wife and we are told of his children. We grow attached the man and pray that he escapes. Bierce makes Farquhar question his own death and fantasize about jumping off of the bridge to save himself. This makes the reader do the same, we want for him to survive. Then the unthinkable happens; the rope snaps. Although he has escaped, something still feels off. He is sluggish and delirious. His hands move for him rather than by him. The whole thing just feels odd. We believe the narrative because we have no reason not to but the tone of the story still keeps on us edge even as Farquhar walks into the arms of his wife. At the end of the story, Bierce shocks the reader. Farquahr is died, hanging from the bridge. The tone of the story hinted at this ending from the beginning but we can't help but be hopeful. I think that another major element of the story is the climax. We spend the whole story waiting for the suspense to end and for the action to lead Farquhar back to his family only to find none of it actually happened. It's a genius move on Bierce's part.