what if you staged a r&j where the audience had two entrances to get to their seats, one marked capulet & one montague and you had to choose one to enter the theatre?? it would be really obvious too like balloons, some of the actors in the house colours cheering by the door, etc, like make it a Big Deal to pick one
so then during the first scene the fight is really drawn out and hyped up and the audience is encouraged to cheer for their house and they’d get really into it like, at a basketball game or whatever. ben and tybs get grand entrances like star players on sports teams. make it seem fun and loud and exciting like a sports event, that kind of hype
and then the prince’s lines “Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word/ By thee, old Capulet, and Montague…” could be aimed at the audience (as well as Lord M and Cap) who’d then feel like they were part of the whole feud like “dang i just heard the prologue and know what all this fighting leads to and yet here i am cheering along with everyone???” (((((i’m in the cabinet i am complicit))))
anyway i feel like it would help highlight how caught up everyone is in the feud, they don’t even know what started it anymore, it’s just mindless hate and the cause of the whole tragedy
and also just how much r&j were going up against like heck they were so brave to reject all of that hate and anger they were so good and so in love
Oh my god, this is brilliant, I love it.
this is a FANTASTIC idea