Act 3 Performance

All film and stage directors end up having to cut lines out of Shakespeare plays–it’s just the name of the game. Whether it’s to keep the show short enough for a modern audience, to cut out dated jokes, or to otherwise make the play more approachable, it often happens.

This assignment asks your group of four to perform a version of Act Three in class.

In this project, you will exercise judgment by cutting Act 3 down to exactly 100 lines.

Here's what to do:

1. Rewrite each of the five scenes so that Act 3 fits into 100 lines. You must keep the original text, so decide on the most important lines to keep so that the play still makes sense. Number the lines of each scene like it does in your book, and place a copy onto your RJ page on your blog.

2. After cutting the scene, divide the lines so that each person has about the same amount to say. This means that you may need to have multiple Lord Capulets or have one person play multiple small roles.

3. Familiarize yourself with your lines (but you don’t need to memorize them).

4. Select props, music, sound effects and costumes for your performance.

5. Perform the play to the class on June 4th.