I want to give these things back to the people (138-139). Others do note share Zefirelli's opinion of freely changing the plays. Michael Flachmann in his review of Romeo and Juliet at La Jolla, in 1983 states, Romeo and Juliet is a particularly frequent victim of this preoccupation with finding a concept or gimmick to render the tragedy intelligible to its (supposedly) benighted viewers (Flachmann 106). This production was altered from the original only in costume. In the beginning, before the costume ball, all the characters are in contemporary clothing. After the ball and up to the death scene they are in Renaissance garb. After the death scene the characters reappear in modern dress, this time with stark white and black tones. The total effect at the end was a frightening rush back into reality, a chilling reminder that the same feud had been reaping its disastrous consequences for centuries, Flachmann states (107).
Another production was altered, like La Jola, not with dialogue but with only costume and scenery. The costumes in this production were best described at hip retro '70s with each character wearing something appropriate for his role: Benvolio in a white poet's shirt and crushed velvet pants, Juliet with a boldly colored spaghetti-strapped dress, and Romeo with a black leather trenchcoat (Johnson-Haddad 87). The set also differed from what was originally intended. The opening scene starts with Friar Laurence kneeling between two models of palaces. Here he recites the Two houses, alike in dignity. . . prologue, motioning to each of the palaces when. Then the quarrel scene between the two houses' servants takes place behind a large white shroud where the audience can only see large silhouettes. The scene closes with the Prince breaking up the brawl and the actors freezing in place as a large red ribbon falls in front of the curtain and finally the curtain itself falling to the floor. This leaves the actors seemingly hovering in an endless black stage. Johnson-Haddad calls the scene distinctive and fowerfully soncieved, . . . it sets the mood for the innovative production to come (87).
The newest cinematic adaption has also made many changes to the original. In the 1997 film Romeo and Juliet, directed my Baz Luhrmann, the characters are set in a darker modern southern Florida dominated by designer guns, customized cars, and incessant music (McCarthy 1). Luhrmann uses race to differentiate between the two clans, though the effect is subtle. The Capulates are predominantly Latino, while the Montagues are mainly white. Religious symbolism plays a large role in the film as well. Tybalt has a large tat oo of the Virgin Mary on his chest, and Juliet's room is inundated with angels and other icons. Friar Laurence's chapel is a large cathedral with a huge statue of Jesus separating the skyrises owned by each of the feuding houses. While Lurmann went fast and loose with the setting and costume, he stuck to the text. Most of the second filial text is included in the film, with minor changes.
Todd McCarthy says that most of the cast adequatly portrays the original text's meaning with one supurb exception, Claire Danes as Juliet. Danes has somehow found a way to both enunciate the Shakespearean lingo [sic.] and make its meaning lucid and accessible in a way that eludes most of the others, McCarty states (1). The exotic setting is the main change in the work. It is set in Verona Beach, Florida, which is loosely based on a darker Miami. The location or Romeo's banishment is a trailer park in what looks like the Arizona badlands. Here the film almost loses credibility, when you consider the contemporary reaction to banishment, but the play still maintains its focus. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet has been performed in many different ways with many different media, and through this it is still considered an important part of Western literature. With all of the changes that many different producers have made, the story still remains one of passion, romance, and tradegy. In every lover we see at least part of Romeo or Juliet; and as long at that holds true the play will remain a classic.
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