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.