Third Form Enjoys Shakespeare at Yale

The Third Formers had all recently finished reading the play, and many had acted out scenes in class, so they had both a solid familiarity with the play's language and themes and an appreciation for the different ways in which lines and scenes could be nuanced. "Seeing the performance really helped me understand the play," said Claire Egan ’14.

Although the play is particularly known as one of the greatest love stories of all time, it also emphasizes the tension between the vision of manhood that Juliet offers Romeo and that insisted upon by the violent male culture of honor which surrounds and overcomes Romeo. The director of the Yale Repertory Theatre's performance of the play continually highlighted this physicality with all the passions of love and hatred closely tied to physical movement and references. "The acting was really good,” said Mae Mullen ’14. “I particularly liked the actress who played Juliet."

The company did an especially good job of demonstrating the humor which pervades the tragic play, often eliciting laughter from the young audience, composed of students from 11 area high schools.