Romeo and Juliet

[ceebeegee]

I have wanted to do this play for a while, but have hesitated because there are so few juicy roles for women--the Nurse and Juliet, and that's pretty much it. (Another reason is that you need a SET for R&J, you really can't do it outside.) I always thought, if Holla Holla did do it, I would cast Mercutio as a woman, perhaps in love with Romeo which would shed some light on Mercutio's later actions. But looking through the character list, I might be able to convert some other roles:

Prince Escalus: Prince of Verona--could easily be a Princess.

Benvolio: Cousin of Romeo--I can't remember much about what he does, but could this be cast as a woman?

The Chorus--definitely.

I don't want to mix it up too much, because with R&J I feel there's a lot of testosterone in it--that the feud is so senselessly murderous that on some level it's a dick-measuring contest. So I don't want to cross-cast Tybalt or Paris or the servants who mix it up at the beginning.

Comments

[king-duncan.livejournal.com]

In the production Don just did they had a Princess Escalus, and made Montague into a woman (with an assumed dead husband).

Tell us how you really feel...

[melebeth]

Bleck. Ick. R&J. Bleck. Ptui. :) I begged my friend Kelley to stop directing productions of it that I'd feel obligated to go and see, because it is by far my least favorite of the commonly produced plays. Although I really want to write a "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern" type play for the Nurse and the Friar.

[dry-2olives.livejournal.com]

Or maybe cross cast the whole play. Set it in an Amazon type society.

[nppyinzer.livejournal.com]

My recollection is that Benvolio starts the fight that leads off Act I ("I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, I do but merely bite my thumb").

In my testosterone-having opinion, you can't cross-cast both Benvolio and Mercutio, because Romeo needs at least one "guy friend" to listen to him get all poetical and shit about how in twue wub he is.