Creative Tasks
Work closely with the original play. Focus on capturing each character's character in your writing; their language (e.g. crude, lively, forceful, energetic, melancholic, etc.). Weave some phrases from the play into your writing. Although most tasks specify a letter or diary account, you are encouraged to design your own form of presentation.
The following tasks are worth 2 points each...
1 Select the character whom you think knows most about the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet and the people involved in their deaths. Recount the story of the play from his or her point of view.
2 Retell the story of the play from Paris' point of view.
3 Imagine how the Nurse might describe the scene when Juliet is told Capulet has brought forward her marriage to Paris (V. iii), later in the servant's hall. You could write it simply in the voice of the nurse, or as a play.
4 Imagine you are either the Nurse or Friar Laurence. What would be the main things you would say about Romeo and Juliet's relationship? How would you justify your part in the affair to Prince Escalus during his inquiry? (Remember to capture the personality of either the Nurse or the Friar in your response.) Try to write in the style of the play.
5 Write the entry that Juliet would make in her diary on the night of her first meeting with Romeo. Try to write in the style of the play.
6 Write the letter that Friar Laurence wrote Romeo that Friar John could not deliver. Try to write in the style of the play.
7 Imagine that you have interviewed Mercutio on the subject of love and his impressions of Romeo in love. Write what Mercutio would say to you. Try to capture Mercutio's character in your writing. His language is crude, lively, forceful and energetic. Weave some phrases from the play into your writing.
8 One of the results of poor communication between parents and children is that often children have no-one to turn to for advice. Juliet turns to her nurse and to Friar Laurence, but many children write to magazine 'problem pages' for advice.
9. Following Mercutio's death, imagine you have interviewed Benvolio, Romeo and Tybalt. Write their accounts of what happened. The accounts will differ because the men have different characters, viewpoints, and more or less at stake in the fight. Bring out the differences in the three accounts.
10 Write Juliet's diary account from the point of her desertion by the Nurse to the moment when she takes the potion. Bring out her changes of mood, the way she deceives Paris, her parents and her Nurse, and her fears about carrying out the Friar's plan.
11 Imagine that Romeo writes to Benvolio from exile telling him about the dream he has just had. Imagine also that this leads Romeo to recall all the other premonitions he and Juliet have had and the mischances they have suffered.
12 Write the letter from Romeo to his father, outlining Romeo and Juliet's 'course of love', and what Romeo now intends to do. Bring out the various causes that Romeo might think contributed to Juliet's death; the quarrel between the two houses, her parents' wish to choose her husband, ill luck, the lovers' own impetuosity.
13 What might have happened? How could the play have developed had Tybalt not killed Mercutio? If Capulet had not changed his mind about the wedding with Paris? Would the feud have eventually been brought to an end without the deaths of Romeo and Juliet? Imagine one of these events (or another from the play) had not taken place and write an account of how things might have turned out IF ONLY.
14 What would be the effect of a happy ending on the play as whole? Write your version of a happy ending to the play. You will need to consider which sections of Act V will need to be changed.
15 You are the musical composer who has been have been assigned to select music for a new screen or stage adaptation of the play. List the main 10 events, and for each event select a piece of music to accompany each scene. Explain in detail how each song conveys the emotion of each scene and how they
The following tasks are worth 4 points each
1 Attempt your own pictorial version of Romeo and Juliet. Choose two or three short scenes, or an extended scene, or a whole act (!) to illustrate. Include dialogue (but this needs to be extensively edited). You will need to make decisions about:
• what the characters look like
• the expressions on their faces
• their body movements
• what they wear
• their surroundings
• the narrative blurbs
• the dialogue
You could set it in medieval Italy or modern Australia or in any other setting which you think appropriate.
2 There are many dramatic incidents in Romeo and Juliet that could lend themselves to rewriting as news articles. Compile a newspaper including front page articles, an editorial, letters to the editor, opinion and feature articles, and investigative reports. You could also include other items such as columns for the weather, obituaries, special announcements, etc. It might be interesting to produce a Verona gossip column that hints at some developments in the play and perhaps includes some false rumours. Devise interesting headlines to accompany each of your articles. Use an appropriate software program (such as Publisher) and produce a professional edition of the Verona Chronicle. Some suggestions to include in your newspaper:
• the feud;
• the fight between Mercutio and Tybalt. Romeo then killing Tybalt and being banished;
• the Capulet party which is gate-crashed by Romeo, Mercutio, Benvolio, and friends;
• Juliet's apparent death on the day of her marriage;
• the final tragic deaths in the tomb;
• an interview with Romeo in exile in Mantua;
• the announcement of the engagement of Paris and Juliet.
5 Create and illustrate the 'story book / album' of production designs accompanied with notes explaining your choices of designs, for a new stage production of Romeo and Juliet. What do you see are the major challenges in making the play relevant to modern audiences? Which period will you set the play in? You will need to consider sets, costumes, lighting and sound. These need careful consideration (e.g. Will you have a traditional/ literal set or will it be a 'symbolic space'? Will you have scene changes? Will you bring out contrast between scenes? How will you create the shifts in weather? Will your costumes 'bring out' their characters / reflect their personality? Will you make it clear to your audience which characters belong to the Montague family and which to the Capulets?
The following tasks are worth 2 points each...
1 Select the character whom you think knows most about the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet and the people involved in their deaths. Recount the story of the play from his or her point of view.
2 Retell the story of the play from Paris' point of view.
3 Imagine how the Nurse might describe the scene when Juliet is told Capulet has brought forward her marriage to Paris (V. iii), later in the servant's hall. You could write it simply in the voice of the nurse, or as a play.
4 Imagine you are either the Nurse or Friar Laurence. What would be the main things you would say about Romeo and Juliet's relationship? How would you justify your part in the affair to Prince Escalus during his inquiry? (Remember to capture the personality of either the Nurse or the Friar in your response.) Try to write in the style of the play.
5 Write the entry that Juliet would make in her diary on the night of her first meeting with Romeo. Try to write in the style of the play.
6 Write the letter that Friar Laurence wrote Romeo that Friar John could not deliver. Try to write in the style of the play.
7 Imagine that you have interviewed Mercutio on the subject of love and his impressions of Romeo in love. Write what Mercutio would say to you. Try to capture Mercutio's character in your writing. His language is crude, lively, forceful and energetic. Weave some phrases from the play into your writing.
8 One of the results of poor communication between parents and children is that often children have no-one to turn to for advice. Juliet turns to her nurse and to Friar Laurence, but many children write to magazine 'problem pages' for advice.
9. Following Mercutio's death, imagine you have interviewed Benvolio, Romeo and Tybalt. Write their accounts of what happened. The accounts will differ because the men have different characters, viewpoints, and more or less at stake in the fight. Bring out the differences in the three accounts.
10 Write Juliet's diary account from the point of her desertion by the Nurse to the moment when she takes the potion. Bring out her changes of mood, the way she deceives Paris, her parents and her Nurse, and her fears about carrying out the Friar's plan.
11 Imagine that Romeo writes to Benvolio from exile telling him about the dream he has just had. Imagine also that this leads Romeo to recall all the other premonitions he and Juliet have had and the mischances they have suffered.
12 Write the letter from Romeo to his father, outlining Romeo and Juliet's 'course of love', and what Romeo now intends to do. Bring out the various causes that Romeo might think contributed to Juliet's death; the quarrel between the two houses, her parents' wish to choose her husband, ill luck, the lovers' own impetuosity.
13 What might have happened? How could the play have developed had Tybalt not killed Mercutio? If Capulet had not changed his mind about the wedding with Paris? Would the feud have eventually been brought to an end without the deaths of Romeo and Juliet? Imagine one of these events (or another from the play) had not taken place and write an account of how things might have turned out IF ONLY.
14 What would be the effect of a happy ending on the play as whole? Write your version of a happy ending to the play. You will need to consider which sections of Act V will need to be changed.
15 You are the musical composer who has been have been assigned to select music for a new screen or stage adaptation of the play. List the main 10 events, and for each event select a piece of music to accompany each scene. Explain in detail how each song conveys the emotion of each scene and how they
The following tasks are worth 4 points each
1 Attempt your own pictorial version of Romeo and Juliet. Choose two or three short scenes, or an extended scene, or a whole act (!) to illustrate. Include dialogue (but this needs to be extensively edited). You will need to make decisions about:
• what the characters look like
• the expressions on their faces
• their body movements
• what they wear
• their surroundings
• the narrative blurbs
• the dialogue
You could set it in medieval Italy or modern Australia or in any other setting which you think appropriate.
2 There are many dramatic incidents in Romeo and Juliet that could lend themselves to rewriting as news articles. Compile a newspaper including front page articles, an editorial, letters to the editor, opinion and feature articles, and investigative reports. You could also include other items such as columns for the weather, obituaries, special announcements, etc. It might be interesting to produce a Verona gossip column that hints at some developments in the play and perhaps includes some false rumours. Devise interesting headlines to accompany each of your articles. Use an appropriate software program (such as Publisher) and produce a professional edition of the Verona Chronicle. Some suggestions to include in your newspaper:
• the feud;
• the fight between Mercutio and Tybalt. Romeo then killing Tybalt and being banished;
• the Capulet party which is gate-crashed by Romeo, Mercutio, Benvolio, and friends;
• Juliet's apparent death on the day of her marriage;
• the final tragic deaths in the tomb;
• an interview with Romeo in exile in Mantua;
• the announcement of the engagement of Paris and Juliet.
5 Create and illustrate the 'story book / album' of production designs accompanied with notes explaining your choices of designs, for a new stage production of Romeo and Juliet. What do you see are the major challenges in making the play relevant to modern audiences? Which period will you set the play in? You will need to consider sets, costumes, lighting and sound. These need careful consideration (e.g. Will you have a traditional/ literal set or will it be a 'symbolic space'? Will you have scene changes? Will you bring out contrast between scenes? How will you create the shifts in weather? Will your costumes 'bring out' their characters / reflect their personality? Will you make it clear to your audience which characters belong to the Montague family and which to the Capulets?