Well Performed and Well Put Together
Review of Romeo y Julieta presented by Seattle Shakespeare Company
Written by Zoe Hamaker during an Arts Criticism workshop at Glacier Middle School
In the play Romeo y Julieta, a play about two people who fell in love, their parents do not like Romeo. Then both ended up killing themselves at the end of the play because of their love and they both thought they died. I felt like it could’ve been more entertaining and more interactive with the audience.
I think it could’ve been more entertaining during the play if they would ask the audience member questions during the play as a more entertaining way to pull the viewers in because most of those kids didn’t pay attention half the time. But instead they made 200+ middle school kids sit in a small gym and watch a theater play about romance, and if you didn't know, those four things don’t add up. So I think it would be important to take into consideration that no middle schooler except for theater kids would enjoy Romeo y Julieta live action.
Although the play wasn’t directed towards the right audience. I personally thought the play was a fun experience and no one at this school really appreciated it. I feel like they really highlighted the parts that could really pull people into the story, well most people. But I thought most of the scenes were very comedic and somewhat entertaining, coming from a 13 year old.
But I also thought the play was really well performed by the way they showed their emotions, did a really good job switching between English and Spanish, and executed the choreography just about perfectly. And the set wasn't the best but it was pretty good considering it was in a middle school gym, it was really good on how they had pillars that showed photos from a long time ago so it made the scenes feel like they were in the right time. The props were close to perfect but I felt like there could’ve been more of them.
In conclusion, I thought the play was really well performed and well put together but it was not performed in front of the right audience. But mostly overall I thought it was great the set was very eye-catching and the props did a really good job showing what was going on.
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.
