Romeo and Juliet Prologue
Speaking Shakespeare
(1 or 2 People)
- Read the Prologue quietly once or twice, then read it aloud. Can you be heard across the room?
- If you have someone to read with, speak it in turns – you could read one line each, then swap over.
- Go outside. Speak the lines to your partner – can they hear you?
- Now take 10 steps away from each other and speak it again – keep doing this for as long as it is comfortable to increase the volume. DO NOT SHOUT!
Hint: To warm up your voice, hum a tune before you begin.
Romeo and Juliet
The Prologue
Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life; Whose misadventured piteous overthrows Do with their death bury their parents’ strife. The fearful passage of their death-mark’d love, And the continuance of their parents’ rage, Which, but their children’s end, nought could remove, Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage; The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
If you speak the Prologue each day for a week, your voice will grow stronger.
Learn it as you go along: now you will be free to use your voice, body and expression to introduce and describe the story. Make it sound exciting, so the audience want to find out what happens next.
Speaking clearly and being heard are skills every actor needs to learn. When ‘Romeo and Juliet’ was written, plays were often performed outdoors, and actors learned how to use their voices with plenty of energy so they could be heard from a distance and in all weathers. They still do.
Other Performing activities:
These activities will be enjoyed by children and adults of all ages.
The activities are rated according to difficulty and level of parental involvement: these descriptions are intended as a rough guide only.
We have rated them to help parents of children aged 8-13, on the assumption that above this age supervision is rarely required, and that below it, supervision is generally required.
: Set it up and off they go.
: Some help needed.
: Challenge yourself.