Romeo And Juliet Balcony Scene

Could Facebook have saved Romeo and Juliet? By David Gray

When their friends read this everything changes. Mercutio and Benvolio know why their friend has been acting so strangely. Tybalt may not like Romeo but he knows they are now related through this marriage. There is no longer any need for dueling. And most likely someone has told Juliet’s Father what has happened. Capulet’s fantasies about Juliet marrying Paris are dashed. He may not be happy, but banishing her is a better outcome than everyone dying! Sure, social media is changing the nature of communication. But is this such a bad thing? While many people my age (50 and above) are lamenting the effects of social media, I’m not convinced that Facebook is ruining today’s youth. Every generation sees the end of society as we knew it in the behavior of the generations that follow, and we’re not wrong. The world as we knew it is no more. You can embrace this fact or you can lament it. But suggesting that social media are inherently undermining the concept of relationships is, I think, ridiculous.  While it may be true that posting constant Facebook updates about the minutiae of one’s daily life seems a tad egotistical, Facebook did not invent this problem. I am embarrassed to say that I came across a diary that I had kept while in 11th grade (16 years old). I opened it in expectation of reading the deep, soulful thoughts of my angst-ridden battle against the hypocrisy of the times… but instead found myself reading the self-indulgent whining of a post-pubescent teen obsessed with dating and gossip, whether I should ask out so-and-so, or instead ask my friend Rob what he thought about my asking another girl… It was dull and it read pretty much the same as the Facebook posts of the few teens who have, for whatever misguided reason, “friended” me. (My 14 year old son was exceedingly reluctant to “friend” me but he did “friend” my father. When I asked about this my son explained, “Grandpa doesn’t really know how to use it.”) In some ways, social media is providing a positive structure for communication. I recently asked my son why he was still Facebook friends with girls that had dumped him, or talked trash about him. He had a shockingly mature response. He explained that the communications were so much noise but their overall community of friends was going to continue to be shared, and staying FB friends prevented either of them from saying anything too smarmy about the other. If only divorced adult couples could achieve this. I wish the same could be said of Twitter, however. Had Romeo tweeted, “In Capulet Orchard, Juliet’s room?”  I imagine the balcony scene would have never taken place!  Likewise, Juliet posting, “Marrying Romeo, party!” would have led to some instant reaction in the Twitterverse and incurred her Father’s wrath before the marriage could take place, changing the course of the story. David Gray recently published his first historical fiction: Escape from Verona:Romeo and Juliet Part Two, The Lost Diary of Juliet Montague.  Gray began his eclectic career in the publishing arena and has written plays, articles, nonfiction and children’s novels.  He is also a Certified Financial Planner, offering fee-only financial planning advice among several other select services. He has been a keynote speaker at conferences and events and conducts frequent training sessions on topics related to finance and nonprofit management. Gray lives in Princeton, New Jersey, where he and his wife, former New York City Ballet Principal Dancer, Kyra Nichols, are raising their sons Joe and Cameron.   More information about Escape from Verona can be found on the website: www.EscapeFromVerona.com.   Escape from Verona can be purchased through the website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble online, on special order in stores (via Ingram), Kindle, and Nook.

Romeo and Juliet | Tragic Bromance | Mahala

Is that a group of boarding school boys find a copy of the play and then spend the night secretly enacting it. How do you think this shifts the meaning of the script?

James MacGregor: Well, in a lot of ways the play becomes more about the forbidden love between Romeo and Juliet and not necessarily the broader familial and social consequences involved. One of the main themes of the original version is how their deaths bring together the two families at the end. In the religious boarding school setting, with the idea’s of lust and religion playing a large role, having these two boys fall in love is more about the tragedy of them never being able to live happily ever after, at least in the world they inhabit.

If you think of it that way you’re not really playing Juliet, so much as playing a boy who is playing her part? How do you prepare for that kind of role?

Yes, the journey for this boy starts off as fun, playing around with his friends, but gradually the play becomes more of a representation of the relationship developing between himself and his classmate. With that in mind it’s still very important to play the truth of Juliet and not disregard her own discoveries of love and lust. So in preparation, essentially, you’re still playing the lover and it would be the same for any acting role that involves a love story. The trick was to get the boy involved, finding his own journey and feelings through the story being told.

That said, did your friends make fun of you for playing Juliet?

There was a fair amount of teasing involved,but they got over it… kind of. I don’t think they ever imagined a guy playing one of the most famous female roles in history.

But men used to play the women in Shakespearian times anyway…

Totally… And I’m sure they got picked on too!

You’ve played both Romeo and Juliet now, which has to be a pretty unusual thing for an actor, which one do you think was more interesting for you?