Adventures in non-traditional approaches to classical text : directing William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

Adventures in non-traditional approaches to classical text: directing William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet examines the preparation, pre-production and rehearsal process behind staging Romeo and Juliet in the round that the Telus Studio Theatre, January 21-30, 2010. As outlined in the following pages, my core objective was to explore and apply principles of Le Jeu, a physical and game-based approach to theatre as taught by Jacques Lecoq and Philippe Gaulier, to a classical piece of text. Elements of the production and rehearsal process were also to include Bouffon, Clown and French Melodrama. In addition, my aim was to experiment with gender-role reversal in the traditionally patriarchal society outlined in the text. In the rehearsal hall my focus was on giving the actor the freedom to dream, play and experiment beyond the confines of traditional approaches to text. In performance this production was framed as a company of grotesques performing the greatest love story of all time in a live cabaret setting. This paper includes biographical information on the playwright, a directorial analysis of the script, a journal chronicling the entire production process from thesis proposal submission through to the run of the show and a short reflection on the process concluding with final thoughts on the production.Arts, Faculty ofTheatre and Film, Department ofGraduat