'Romeo and Juliet' on Wordle

Above, a Wordle of the whole text of Romeo and Juliet, the first of the entire works of Shakespeare that we'll be showing over the next month or so - when complete, there will be a full slideshow, to compare the plays, as well as a commentary.

Wordles are created by Jonathan Feinberg's online tool here; the more times the word appears in the text, the larger the word. In our Shakespeare Wordles, the entire text, including the name indicators of the characters before they speak, is included. Thus you can see how relatively dominant a character is in each play, as well as spot recurring ideas and themes. Our Wordles use different numbers of 'maximum words'. Click on the image for a closer view.

Drama Prizes 2009

Congratulations to the winners of this year's Drama Prizes:

Oliver Smith wins the Senior prize for his work as Professor Henry Higgins in our November production of the musical My Fair Lady.

Emma Moore wins the Junior prize for her work as Juliet in the February production of Romeo and Juliet, and also for her work in My Fair Lady.

Romeo and Juliet review

Here's another review of the recent Junior Play production of Romeo and Juliet, this time by III former Shannen Keogan :-

Throughout the entire play every single character gave off the impression that they knew what they were doing and did it very professionally. I have to give particular mention to: Opeline Kellett who had the very tough job of playing two different roles (the authoritative Princess Escalus and the fragile Lady Capulet); Thomas Emmet as Lord Capulet gave a powerfully choleric display; Olivia Plunket came across as the chatty and caring nurse; and Igor Verkhovskiy's interpretation of Tybalt as a Russian mafia boss was refreshingly innovative. In short they all gave excellent performances.

Read the full review by Shannen here.

Romeo and Juliet review

Today we break for half-term, and so posting here will resume when we return on Monday 23rd February.

Our last post in this part of term is a review of the recent highly successful Junior Play production (collage above) Romeo and Juliet by V former Anna Traill, who played the title role in last year's Junior production of Antigone by Sophocles. A story suited for Valentine's weekend ...

Anna writes:-

Our Friday and Saturday evenings, February 6th and 7th, were lit up as the Junior school performed the infamous tragedy Romeo and Juliet. The audience was captivated from the first moment.

We didn’t really know what we were expecting as we sat on the edge of our seats before the lights went off. But as soon as William Maire and Tyrone Langham came on to the stage with their yellow hoodies, and spray-painted ‘Montagues’ and ‘Capulets’ onto the wall we knew we were in for a good night.

Jasper Pickersgill played Romeo brilliantly: not once was he put off by any audience reaction, and he expressed his love for Juliet incredibly well throughout the story. Emma Moore, playing the leading female role, Juliet, was mesmerising. The romance between Romeo and Juliet seemed so real throughout the production. Our hearts as an audience were really being torn.

Read the full review here.

Romeo and Juliet photos

Here's an Animoto video of pictures taken by Peter Watts on Saturday night of the Junior Play, Romeo and Juliet. The music is, appropriately, 'Duelo A La Muerto' by Incendio. It's followed by the pictures in an album.

And the album:

The Tempest

This should be interesting : the South Bank Show tonight (ITV, 10.15pm) examines Shakespeare's late play The Tempest:

"Melvyn Bragg explores the history of Shakespeare's play and its appeal to modern audiences. He focuses on the work of alchemist John Dee, said to have been the basis for the character Prospero, the shipwreck in 1609 that might have inspired it and the role played by magic in the story. With archive footage of British, Italian and German productions and contributions from experts including Charles Nicholl and Gary Taylor."

Last night our Junior Play production of Romeo and Juliet concluded, with a fine final performance. We'll shortly have plenty of photos, and a review by a pupil.

Romeo and Juliet first night

Good luck to all involved in tonight's opening performance of Romeo and Juliet, this year's Junior Play. Pictured above, the cast after last night's dress rehearsal (the coloured hoodies denote the families - red for Montague, yellow for Capulet, with Mercutio the lone purple).

Romeo and Juliet

The Junior Play, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, is in the final throes of rehearsal before the two performances in the BSR, on Friday at 7pm, and Saturday at 8pm. This Junior production follows many successful recent productions from the Shakespeare Society, including The Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It and, most recently in 2006, Twelfth Night. The dress rehearsal is tonight.

This version has been abridged by director Evan Jameson as a fast-paced contemporary story, which opens to the rowdy notes of The Pogues and ends with the melancholy strains of Iceland's Sigur Ros (see below - and in between some Nigerian dance music). The cast has been rehearsing intensely since the start of term. The title roles are being played by Jasper Pickersgill and Emma Moore, and other notables are Thomas Emmet and Opeline Kellett as Lord and Lady Capulet, Patrick Tice as the ill-fated Mercutio and Olivia Plunket as the Nurse.

The production is being played 'in the flat', with a long walkway against one wall of the BSR, and a raised area for the Capulets' house.

We'll have a pupil review here next week.

Romeo and Juliet cast

The cast for next term's Junior Play production of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Mr Jameson, is:-

Romeo: Jasper Pickersgill
Benvolio: Henry Roe
Mercutio: Patrick Tice
Balthazar: Tom Crampton
Escalus: Opeline Kellett
Abram: Tom Gibbs
Lord Montague: Robin Fitzpatrick
Lady Capulet: Opeline Kellett
Apothecary: Angus Johnson
Juliet: Emma Moore
Lord Capulet: Thomas Emmet
Nurse: Olivia Plunket
Tybalt: Igor Verkhovskiy
Sampson: Tyrone Langham
Friar Lawrence: Eamonn McKee

Plenty more here about the production next term.

Romeo and Juliet

Next term's Junior Play, to be directed by Mr Jameson, is Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, in a specially-stripped down version - in the words of the audition poster, 'Shorter. Faster. Louder. Better.' Auditions are currently being completed. More news in due course. The production itself will be put on in the BSR on Friday 6th and Saturday 7th February.