Unit 4 historical context of performance

3 Modernizing Shakespeare 

Romeo and Juliet 

There are two versions of the play one by Franco Zefferelli and one by Baz Lhurman. Both plays have differences and similarities, for example Zefferelli sticks to the original play written by Shakespeare and doesn't adjust it in, Lhurman sets the play up to date and changes the play in many ways, such as when Romeo and Juliet meet, and when they die.

In both version Juliet is young and beautiful but there is a difference between the two, in Zefferelli’s version Juliet she has a lot more respect for her parents and she doesn’t argue with them. She has her hair tied up all of the time but only fully grown women had to have their hair tied up, she is also covered up in clothes all of the time which is completely different to the Juliet in  Baz Lhurman’s version who is more feisty, for example when she is told that she will marry Paris on the Thursday she throws a tantrum at her parents and causes a huge argument. Romeo and Juliet was done in the 90's because in the 90's allot of gang war was happening hence why he decided to do a modern version of Romeo and Juliet at this particular time. He used famous attractive actors in the play the audience will understand the intentions with the story line. Leonardo Decaprio's version of Romeo and Juliet is really modern up to the part where they actually drive cars and fight using cars. The play was set in the gangs and gun culture of  Verona Beach, although Luhrmann  sticks with the Shakespeare text it works, as there is the unwritten statement that the audience are already familiar with the text and if not, they will get the idea of it because the way it has been modernized clearly. 

Romeo and Juliet is written in the 16th century by William Shakespeare, back in the 16th century fathers had the power to arrange a marriage for their daughter, they would often arrange a marriage with someone from a suitable family in order to confirm or add to the social status of their own family, it was regular for girls as young as 13 to marry much older men. A marriage was also financial as money was provided money from the husband’s family which meant that if the husband were to die first the woman’s benefit would be guaranteed, people did not marry for love. The best way to improve social status was by having a large house plenty of servants and a big dinner table. A ball like the one held by Capulet would be held especially for a couple to meet and to get to know each other. Baz Luhrman 1996 movie version with Leonardo Di Caprio and Claire Danes. It really updated the setting of the play without sacrificing any of the incredible Shakespeare language. Modern parents don't marry their daughters off against their wishes when they're only young. But many  young adults still feel the weight of their parents wishes and desires and feel as if they are being overwhelmed. young lovers wish they can ignore the world of anger and be free to pursue their dream.

They are both teenagers whose situations and behavior relate to modern times in several ways. Romeo is a passionate and thoughtless young man who gets caught up in a cycle of violence. Juliet is also young and hasty, going against her parents  wishes by marrying Romeo. The intense feelings of the teenage years are obvious in the dialogue between the two young lovers. Lastly, they relate to modern times because they are deeply affected by adult forces in society that they cannot control the long-running grudge between their families that ultimately leads to their deaths. Romeo and Juliet is not just about what happens when two teenagers. The real moral of the story here is that sometimes love is doom to fail, and that applies no matter how old you are and what time you’re living in.

 In the 90's he created Romeo and Juliet because in the 90's allot of gang war fairs were happening. And he decided to a modern version of Romeo and Juliet because it’s based on war which he thought would change the mind-set of the society today. The audience that he wanted to attract was teenagers since, love, marriage and war is a big issue in today's society. The themes of Romeo and Juliet are still relevant to a modern day audience since it is about young children falling in love, knife crime, violence and suicide. Which all occur today and he decided to a modern version of Romeo and Juliet because it’s based on war which he thought would change the mind-set of the society today. The audience that he wanted to attract was teenagers since, love, marriage and war is a big issue in today's society. The themes of Romeo and Juliet are still relevant to a modern day audience since it is about young children falling in love, knife crime, violence and suicide. Which all occur today.

 Shakespeare never imagined his main character falling in a swimming pool and kissing under water. Today's audience can understand the act which many young people may have experienced or dreamed of happening. Leonardo Di Caprio translated the Shakespeare language into effective sentences witch the modern audience can understand, he was able to make that change which allows the audience to get it which i think is clever since Shakespeare is very hard to understand. 

The theme of dishonest love will never grow old. Romeo and Juliet  is beautifully written, which makes it beneficial when someone is in the same situation. Teenagers of today want to read about people that feel the same way they do it makes us feel understood and less lost. Even if we don't experience the situation, we all have the need to experience emotion. The plot is unbelievable that it teaches not only the real meaning of love but the value of life and loved ones. The language holds so much richness that even though people don’t understand it word for word, they will still capture the real story. 

10 Things I hate About You

The comedy The Taming of the Shrew This play has been changed to movies in several occasions, the first one being a short film directed in 1908 by D. W. Griffith. Over the years, other films transformation had the contribution of well know actors such as Alfred Hitchcock, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Maureen O'Hara, and John Wayne. 

The modern film version was changed to suit a different audience of the time period and contained more update features. The play the taming of the shrew  is basically about a shrew named Katherine Minola who is famous for having a bad temper and being tense. It is thought that no man would ever want Katherine due to the fact that she would be unpredictable and naughty. However, her younger sister Bianca is a different story. Bianca is considered very eligible and is required after by many of the nobles. The problem however is that Bianca and Katherine's father, Baptista Minola, forbids Bianca to marry until Katherine does.

The movie “10 Things I hate about you” is about a new student, named Cameron, at Padua High School who immediately falls in love with the beautiful and popular Bianca Stratford. Bianca has an older sister named Kat who is the less popular of the two sisters and is sort of an outcast. Kat does not seem interested in dating and that is unfortunate for Bianca as she is interested in dating but not allowed to participate in the dating game unless Kat does as well. That was a rule set up by their father Walter.

 10 Things I hate about you deals with issues like unreturned love and miss understanding. The movie was released in 1999 as a romantic comedy and as a modern adaptation of Shakespeare's famous play. The film's main characters are Kat and Bianca Stratford played by Julia Stiles and Larisa Oleynik, Patrick Verona played by Heath Ledger and based on the character of Petruchio, Cameron James played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and inspired on Lucentio, and Joey Donner who is played by Andrew Keegan and whose personality combines many elements of the original characters of Gremio and Hortensio. The story continues in a similar pattern as “The Taming of the Shrew” but in a different time and setting, and with a little different plot and twists.

The themes and values present in The Taming of the Shrew in order for the film to be successful needed to be evident in 10 Things I Hate About You. These included romance and marriage, the importance of money, social order and status, male values and transformation.To represent to today's society while a large amount of the themes and values stayed the same, the director did this through the language and form of the play and also by using film techniques, to relate to the film. To keep the appropriation true and meaningful the basic plot and characters were kept similar. For the characters he chose to have the similar personality traits to The Taming of the Shrew characters.

 For example Kate and Kat were similar as their both free and intelligent individuals who go by their own morals and don't care what anyone else thinks of them. Bianca in both texts is seen as the object of desire as of her passive behavior and good looks. He used similarities like these ones all throughout 10 things' with only making minor changes.

One of the major adaptions between The Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate about You was between Kate's final speech and the sonnet delivered by Kate. 

He dealt with the issue of social order in a different manner. He also translated the value into one of independence vs. conformity shown this mainly by using film techniques such as costuming and the placement of certain groups within the frame. 

The Taming of the Shrew into the film 10 Things I Hate About You he had to look at the common values and themes and to change into a medium that a 21st century audience could relate, enjoy and understand while still staying true to the original text.

She's The Man

She's the Man is a 2006 American romantic comedy film directed by Andy Fickman inspired by William Shakespeare play Twelfth Night.
The film centers on teenager Viola Hastings who enters her brother's school in his place, pretending to be male, in order to play with the boys' soccer team.

 In the movie Orisino is actually Duke Orisino, known as just Duke Viola’s roommate; sirs Toby Belch and Andrew Aguecheek are played as two of Duke’s good friends; while Malvolio and Feste are meshed together into one character, Malcolm Fest , Olivia’s creepy stalker who happens to own a tarantula named Malvolio. Maria is portrayed by two actors; the actual Maria Katie Stewart, Olivia’s best friend, and Eunice the nerdy comic relief who shows up at random moments and who ends up with Toby in the end.
While the characters vary, the premise of the story stays relatively the same. Viola and Duke make an arrangement; he will help her get onto the first string soccer team if she in turn helps him to get the beautiful and popular Olivia. In Shakespeare’s play, Olivia is a countess in mourning over her dead brother and father. In the movie Olivia is mourning over a breakup with her college-aged boyfriend. The movie is set up so Viola and Olivia are lab partners in chemistry, giving Viola a chance to sell Olivia on Duke. The attraction between Olivia and Viola is a little questionable I don’t know how many girls think a boy interested in what store carries shoes is heterosexual  but similar to the play in that Viola is able to relate to Olivia.


By doing my research i  found out that "Women are stereotyped, they are singled out in patriarchal a society the housewife is favored whilst woman in power is often shown to be in the villain, they are passive and vulnerable towards men. when women are shown in a position of power it is portrayed as being unnatural it is the men who are the most powerful, the dominate ideology within society broke traditional stereotypes of house wife’s and mothers. She’s the man 2006 emphasizes this breaks away from traditional values and brings forward a new outlook for women"

The stereotypical qualities of femininity are Domesticated, weak, emotional and passive  whereas, for masculinity they consist of being, “Strong, professional, aggressive and competitive.” In  She’s the man Viola is represented as “Strong, and competitive she wants to be treated the same as the men  Whereas, her ex-boyfriend is represented as weak and emotional as he cries when they lose a match or when he is upset. This is role reversal as the qualities are being crossed over, and stereotypes are being challenged. Women are now socially accepted in various roles, other than just being housewives or mothers as they are now more likely to be the protagonists in films. In addition, women are now able to do things that men can, equal opportunities are more apparent as they are able to have the same jobs as men allowing this change in society to be developed and emphasized on screen through media.

“She’s The Man”, was aimed towards girls who have love sports  but are start of getting involved  because of sexism, further more Viola Hastings’s work to prove that females can play basketball just as well as boys; by joining a boys  basketball team named “Illyria” because she is unable to join the team as a girl, due to prejudice. This movie created a minimal amount of social discussion because the fact that the movie was aimed  towards teenagers. the movie should have targeted also  adults because teenagers in the twenty first century already have some sort of idea on the fact that sexism is a big issue, adults have a better chance of understanding it because it increasingly happens in professional settings which teenagers are not really aware of.

As she’s the man is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” cross dressing is used as one of the themes, this linking to 10 Things I Hate about  you which was an adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew.The behavior of women in general has historically often received less attention than that of men, and cross-dressing is no exception.  However, women receive a whole lot more attention and are able to get attention for more than just their appearance, they are appreciated and accepted in various ways in society.

Historical Context Hamlet

Elizabethan stages were very small. the use of props and other embellishments on stage had to be fairly limited. Instead, costuming was important in showing character and place. a book or journal on which Hamlet writes his intention to seek revenge for his father's murder, some tokens which Hamlet originally gave Ophelia and which she returns to him, a book for the pacing Hamlet, knives and sward and daggers; the wine cups so important in the last scene. After Shakespeare death his plays were still being performed in the 1646-1660, most public stage performances were banned after the puritan rulers. after the English restoration, Shakespeare plays were performed in play houses, stage, music and dancing, thunder, lightning, and fireworks. during this time the text were transformed and improved for the stage.

I found out that Shakespeare's performances were always performed in contemporary dress and actors were costumed in clothes that they might wear off the stage. this continued into the 18th

century, the Georgian period, where costumes were the

Shakespeare's performances were always performed in contemporary dress. Actors were costumed in clothes that they might wear off the stage. This continued into the 18th century, the Georgian period, where costumes were the current fashionable dress.

Shakespeare plays were performed to influence his audience and manipulate the mind and also debate the social, cultural and economic events that were taking place at that time. Hamlet, was a reflection of the events happening during the Elizabethan times. 

Most of the poorer audience members, referred to as groundings, would pay one penny to stand in front of the stage, while the richer patrons would sit in the covered galleries, paying as much as half a crown each for their seats. Shakespeare's audience was much more lively they were loud and hot-tempered and as interested in the happenings off stage as on.

The impact that his soliloquy has on the audience is to question themselves why we go on living a cold and cruel life or seek a life with power when really you die, death either becomes worse and you lose all the power that you worked so hard to gain and also it is hard to know what is on the either side as he quotes that death is a land that people travel to but they never come back and it's hard to now if death is worse than life or vice versa.

Shakespeare Themes 

Modernizing Shakespeare makes the world look at social aspect of the time period to provoke social discussion. The language might not change but the universal theme will remain the same.
List of themes in Shakespeare:
Evil
Death
Love
Lust
Sex
Wealth
pride
Hate
Good
Poverty
Power
Greed
Relationship
Trust
Marriage
War
Piece
Corruption
Loyalty
Murder

Universal themes are themes that humans can reflect on and relates to within a social context.
Hamlet universal theme:
Revenge 
Power
Death
Lust
Corruption

Universal themes will always stay the same however would just change in degree.

From 1 to the worst and 10 to the best;
Illusion
Love
Hate
Birth
War
Freedom
70’s
9/10
  in the 70’s drugs where legal so people had illusion because of these drugs.
9/10 There was allot of love and sexual behavior because of the drug Marihuana made people do allot of sexual things so allot of people had experienced sexual intercourse. 2/3 because of the drug there was hardly any hate in the world. 5/6 birth was created by the drug it was a new dilemma which was created  by all the sex because of the Marihuana. 0/1 the drug decreased wars and made everyone happy so it became 7/8 because of the drugs there was so much freedom and there was less laws and less rules.

 in The 90's all though the drugs where not legal some how there was still people were able to do it secretly. there was less love around the country so more people hated which rise up to a 9/10. it dropped back down to a 8/9 since there was more hate because of the new comers.
90’s.The new birth was that people had to adapt to their new surrounded which was the new people that inhabited the country.There was wars between the new people that started a new life in the United kingdom because the new people started getting employed and most of the people that were born there did not have a jobs which really aggravated them.There was hardly any freedom because there was more rules then and more racism.

TV & Film Modernizing  

TV and Film modernizing Shakespeare was completely different compared to how we performed in on stage. our scene did not need many props the main props we used were, the dagger for Hamlet to kill Polonuis and scare his mother, a table where hamlet places the two photo of the uncle and dad and physically holds me in a position where i can't move to stare at the picture.and we also used a chair and a brush for the begging of the scene since i start of the scene sitting on the chair brushing threw my hair. our piece was much intense and physical. Furthermore with out TV and film unit we decided to keep the original text, since film and tv is very intimate we both decided to bring our energy down. when performing on stage everything is big and dramatic, the audience focuses more on the big gestures as for TV and film your face expression is very important because your reactions makes it obvious of what you are thinking or what is going to happen next. My character reacts more and in our  TV and film unit we did a close up shot of me giving hamlet the evils, then we did a over shoulder shot of me reacting to what hamlet is saying last of all we did a long shot of me walking away from hamlet annoyed. Our TV and film assessment was set inside the disabled toilet bathroom and also outside. we did not wear any costumes neither did we have any props we kept it really simply we wanted it to be a major difference to our stage performance the only thing that we decided to keep was the text but we played our characters different i was less emotional and hamlet was less frustrated.