WW5: Juliet
Hi y’all!
I apologise for not having any substantial writing this week…. but here’s a little Juliet to make up for it??? This soliloquy occurs before all the um…. bad stuff …starts happening to her. In this speech, she’s waiting for her nurse to return home after delivering the news to Romeo that he’d better prepare himself for a wedding!
On re-reading Romeo and Juliet as an adult, I am taken with how manipulative, decisive, and strong Juliet is. We may feel that this play is ‘overdone’, but I maintain that it is incredible and filled with endless treasures.
Of course, no video would be complete without a little visit from Jane!
I’ll be back next week to tell you about our trip to Amsterdam.
xWG
Winter-Maker 
Oh, I do love this scene from R&J. And I am very impressed that you didn’t miss a beat when kitty jumped on your lap…if you’re not a natural-born actress, I don’t know who is!! And, wait, there’s bad stuff that happens? Spoiler Alert next time!!! Sheesh.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much for watching! Yeah, you gotta be ready for anything to come at you in the world of theatre! My favourite ‘surprise’ is working with an actor who can’t remember their lines and therefore having to improvise on their behalf. Joy! R&J really must have been shocking for virgin viewers not beaten over the head with the story beforehand – there’s so much comedy and then SUPER SUPER TRAGIC TIME.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Okay, I want to see footage of that improv play you did…did you get billing for playing two parts?
LikeLiked by 1 person
You never get the credit for saving the day covering someone else! And it’s usually some HILARIOUS male actor who thinks he’s too good to really memorise his line or follow any sort of blocking. Bastards!
LikeLike
Damn, hit send before I meant to. Stupid fingers. Anyway, Shakespeare did know a thing or two about pacing with R&J…lure ’em in with some rom-com and then BAM tragedy. Wasn’t the comedy angle the start of Shakespeare in Love? Romeo and Ethel the Pirate’s Daughter?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha yes!!!
LikeLike
Beautifully done, Weekes! I so enjoyed your way of conveying Juliet’s anticipation and strong will; it is a side of Juliet we don’t often get to see… Pure poetry! And Jane’s jump into the scene felt like it was perfectly timed! I liked the line about old folks, too. 🙂 Bravo! *rose toss*
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha awww thank you! *kisses hand and waves to the audience* Jane is a good lil costar, isn’t she?? She always assumes I’m talking to her (I usually am) and likes to check in to let me know she’s listening ❤ Thank you for watching!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank *you* – another scintillating performance! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh woweee! Talk about bringing Shakespeare to life… You really capture the impatience of the wait and then Juliet’s complete joy at the end! Congratulations to you and your lovely feline co-star on another great performance… I hope any directors you work with in the future remember to give Jane a part, too! 😸
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha I know, I think I’d better have a clause in any of my contracts that insists Jane has a role. Of course, clause or no, she’ll find a way to get her cute little face in there… she’s not big on respecting personal space! Thanks for watching and encouraging, Helen 🙂
LikeLike
Hahaha! Just be careful that she doesn’t start snagging all the juicy roles! Although watching this, I think having a stage-savvy kitty present adds more realism to the scene – Juliet sharing her thoughts with a cat seems more natural than her just monologuing by herself. Playwrights take note!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Totally! I also think Juliet works so well in the vlog format because she’s just like any other teen venting her thoughts and emotions… she’s just doing it out loud rather than jotting them in a journal! It also reminds me of a scene in my favourite all time film (in that I used to watch it once a week in high school when I had a VHS player) ‘Gigi’. Charming Leslie Caron sings a whole song to her cat asking it to pray for her success before a big date! Aaaaaand I just went to find you a picture and I stumbled on this amazing website! hahahahaha
http://www.cinemacats.com/?p=2139
LikeLike
Oh nooooo! Goodbye, Friday… Instead of using you productively, I will now be looking for previously uncredited feline appearances in all my favourite films! 😹😹😹 And of course, the first one I went hunting for was “Alien”! That’s a comprehensive list… I didn’t even notice there was a kitty in “Roman Holiday”. Now I know better!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hahaha! I’ve never noticed that Roman Holiday kitten either!! Cat actors must be such divas. I can only imagine all of the snacks Edward would demand to be stocked in his trailer!
LikeLike
Ha! And you would NOT want to be his P.A.! 😂😂😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I mean…. I pretty much already am! I think I got up to feed him about 7 times during the night last night. Totally normal, right?
LikeLike
Maybe you dreamed 6 of those feeding sessions? 😂 Sounds like Edward needs food that fills him up for longer… Are cats allowed porridge and wholemeal bread? 🤔
LikeLiked by 1 person
HE IS NOT ACTUALLY HUNGRY!!!!!! It’s a purely psychological problem. He will harass me hourly until I get up and stumble along to the kitchen and point to his bowl (that still has food in it) at which point he will take a couple of bites and be like, ‘meow,’ and then come back to sleep for the next 45 minute increment (during which I can’t move my legs because his overfed form is splayed across them). Then the cycle starts again. On and on and on until I die of exhaustion ….. don’t you want to come and babysit???
LikeLike
Hahaha! If I come in to play Mary Poppins, Edward will have a very different experience… “What is wrong with this human? I CAN’T WAKE HER!” I think there is a complicated Victorian solution to this problem (isn’t there always?) in which we build a lifesize automation of you and a set of tracks that lead to the kitchen. Activated by plaintive meowing, RoboWeekes trundles down to Edward’s bowl, points at it, tells him he’s lovely and then accompanies him back to bed. Perfect! I’ll start work immediately! 😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hhahahaha noooooo he could wake the dead!!!! You would not sleep through it! Hahaha RoboWeekes is going to have to have some long flowing hair (fortunately you have a lot of experience with that) because his favourite method of waking you is to jump from the floor by the bed directly onto your head and walk back and forth across you hair. It’s….terrifying. And can we get RoboWeekes to also do the washing up and the laundry? (She’s really coming to life in my head now – complete with chatelaine!)
LikeLike
Yes! She must have a chatelaine! Although by adding the extra duties, you might well have exceeded the bounds of my (non-existent) robot-building skills. This insight into the antics of Edward is very revealing – now I can see why Jane is always cast as the sweet, easy-going one! 😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hhahahhaa truly. By comparison, Jane seems to be an angel sent down from heaven. I blame it all on my mother who thought Jane looked ‘weird’ and insisted I adopt her brother Edward (then called ‘Buttermilk’) (so obviously I just took them both, like any sane person would)…. the rest was history! Thanks, Mom!
LikeLike
Hahaha! You truly can’t judge a cat on first impressions, then… Although I do wonder if Edward’s relationship with food stems from that unfortunate original name? 🤔
LikeLiked by 1 person