Diversity of Language vs. Clear Communication

In the play Romeo y Julieta, two people named Romeo y Julieta, living in Verona, Italy fall in love with each other. But, they cannot get married because their families are rivals and forbid them from seeing each other. I liked the costumes, but I did not like that the play was in Old English.

The costumes in the play were very cool. I was able to tell all of the characters apart because of their clothes/props. I saw this when the person who played Mercutio changed from being the prince, to playing Mercutio by dressing in fancier clothes. This is important because if we weren’t able to tell the difference between characters, we would think one character is doing something a different character was doing, and would have no idea what is happening.

I did not like the use of Old English in the play. In the play, every character talked in Old English to show more tension. I saw this when the Capulets and Montagues were fighting, and were calling each other vulgar things in Old English. This was important because it created more spectacle, and diversity of language. But, I did not like this because it was difficult to understand, and I couldn’t follow what was happening in the story most of the time.

I liked the play Romeo y Julieta because the costumes were great, and I could tell the characters apart. But, I did not like the Old English that was used because I couldn't understand it.

Lead photo credit: Romeo y Julieta by Seattle Shakespeare Company. Photo by Christian Zumbado.

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This review was written as part of an Arts Criticism workshop at Glacier Middle School in Ms. Havran’s Language Arts classes, taught by Press Corps teaching artist Marquicia Dominguez and Jordi Montes