A Character Study on Tybalt and Mercutio, and as Director What :: Drama

A Character Study on Tybalt and Mercutio, and as Director What Instructions I would give the Actors Taking on their Parts Romeo and Juliet is a world famous play written by William Shakespeare. The tale is of two lovers suicide when their feuding families keep them apart. The families have been sworn enemies for generations they are wealthy, powerful and often violent. Some characters are quiet without much involvement, others the play revolves around, Tybalt and Mercutio are somewhere in the middle they do not greatly contribute to the main story line, however they form the base of it, even though they both are killed early on. They create the atmosphere and reality aspect in the story. The prologue sets the scene, briefly summarizing the story and emphasising the trouble in Verona. We are told of the feud between two credential families, the Montague's and the Capulet's, there have been three civil brawls caused by them, 'from ancient grudge beaks new mutiny' the city is in chaos. This makes the environment for Tybalt ideal, as he relishes fighting. Tybalt (A.K.A prince of cats) is a passionate swordsman. He was born to violent times in troubled Verona, therefore he lives and breathes fighting. He has known nothing but chaos throughout his life as he is a Capulet, sworn enemy to all Montague's and their companions (including Mercutio, Romeo's [Montague] best friend). Tybalt lives to the extreme, his mannerisms are eccentric and he repeatedly overreacts, he takes simple things out of context and always reacts violently as he knows nothing else. For example, in Act1 Scene1, as Benvolio seeks peace he cries 'what, art tho drawn amongst these heartless hinds? Turn thee Benvolio and look upon thy death.' This shows his willingness to kill without mercy, on the slightest pretence. Therefore considering first impressions, as director I would chose an actor to be Tybalt that has an Italian influence in his appearance, and accent. He would have 'rugged' features and deep, brown, fiery eyes to correlate with his delicate temper, this in my opinion, giving the impression of a key member in a Mafia. He would have brown/black short hair and a small 'goatee' but the rest of his face would be clean-shaven to show he takes great pride in his intimidating appearance. His clothes would also reflect this, wearing dark colours and always looking smart, again based on the stereotype of a gang member. He should be wearing a white shirt open at the top, black jacket and trousers with shiny back shoes, he would always look calm and collected as though he enjoyed life and hadn't a care in the