Oklahoma Disaster Relief

American Red Cross
Together, we can save a life

See Kare11.com's page for more ways to contribute.

VoyForums Notice -- Quick Contributions:
Donate $10 to the Red Cross: Text the word REDCROSS to 90999
Donate $10 to the Salvation Army: Text the word STORM to 80888
* The charge will appear on your cellphone bill.

[ VoyUser Login optional ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, [2], 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 09:29:32 12/16/99 Thu
Author: I see why the LA review were a rave - Hank Foley
Author Host/IP: NoHost / 207.247.80.167
Subject: /Had to give it due time to read. Excellent, Barry.
In reply to: -ShakeBarrySpeare... or I may... shake it myself ! 's message, "And here's a little play..." on 23:02:39 12/14/99 Tue

>

R o m e
> o & J u l i e t
> Revisited

>
> A One Act Play
> © 1990 & 1999 N. Barry Carver
>
> Prologue
>
> Narrator: Thank you gentle people - 1
> For gentle must you be
> To hand a stranger your hard earned gold
> Our simple act to see.
> We will make no hash of it (though some of you may
> stew)
> And apologies at prologue are not meet, nor meat,
> So if it please you view
> The few minutes trespass we dare but here to stage
> Presently shall we heart'ly know your bravos or your
> rage.
> The story should you know now well 10
> Of loves labors gone awry
> And, although it were so perfect played,
> No star-crossed lovers die
> No? No?
> So let me set the scene again
> When the peace was newly made
> When Romeo and Juliet
> In silent grave were laid...
>
> Scene I (a tomb belonging to the Capulets)
>
> Montague: Good my brother Capulet, 1
> Will you please hold this poor hand
> In that clasp is guarantee
> Your faithful daughter yet shall stand
> In solid gold, for all to see
> Our lasting peace to band!
>
> Capulet: And Romeo laid by her side
> Shall of no less be made
> For though we two fools have been
> And by our hate betrayed - 10
> These hapless children have all but love
> Excised with bastard blade!
>
> Prince: A glooming peace this morning brings;
> The sun, for sorrow, will not show not show his head.
> Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things;
> Some shall be pardoned, and some punished.
> For never was a story of more woe
> Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.
> Exeunt Living
> 2
>
> Juliet: O happy, happy dagger!
>
> Romeo: (laughs) Happy dagger indeed! 20
> How could you, such a jest
> Upon your death's bed make;
> I thought from holding laughter back
> They'd see me smirk or shake
> And belie the poison, which if one too much did take
> Would make one merely belch and stagger
> More toward the point (and this be the point)
> Stagy, stagy dagger.
>
> Juliet: Mock it not my one true love
> For 'tis this small and tricky blade 30
> That finally a life has cut from fabric
> Which once only long swords of death could penetrate
>
> Romeo: Mock! Shall I never more to it!
> This princely play blade and this my valiant poison's
> vial
> Shall stand up ever on a Mantuan's hearth mantle
> As testament to two who could pry life from death
> And force peace upon combatants simply by the dying.
>
> Juliet: A Mantuan? But why?
> What Mantuan is so endeared to you that
> Symbols of our holy love should grace 40
> Some strangers foreign fireplace?
>
> Romeo: No stranger than our own strange ways
> No unknown firebox but the one to warm our feet
> For though this monuments' floor holds plays
> 'Tis house for happy hearts un-meet;
> Thus off are we to Mantua
> For Mantuans are we
> And there shall we our fresh lives live
> Ever after happily.
>
> Juliet: Mantua. Mantua. Oh my lord say no 50
> A country maid is not a life
> That I would trade mine for...
>
> Romeo: But here, my eastern light,
> The peace we've made would fail
> And there is no place in Verona
> For your Romeo save jail
> So to lands of landed farmer fops
> And cocks up every tree
> Up at dawn and sundown sleep
> The country life for we. 60
> 3
>
> Juliet: In Verona would I rather stay
> Methinks I have some allergy to hay;
> I just adore my chamber's view
> Darling I love you but I cannot bear manure
>
> Romeo: Fresh air!
>
> Juliet: The square!
>
> Romeo: Big trees!
>
> Juliet: Oh please!
>
> Romeo: You are my wife!
>
> Juliet: Good-bye former life! 70
>
> Both: For Mantuans are we!!! Exeunt
>
> Scene II (a room in Montague's house)
>
> Montague: Must I but say it plain - 1
> While I in solid gold make stand
> He leaves our Romeo slain.
>
> Lady M: But fair my Lord
> Our gentle son is slain
> And such a figure of him is cut
> Makes proud and sorrowed mother glad to see
> I beg you let our Romeo recline in gold on stone
> Let us endure a narrow slight that lets hard won
> truce be.
>
> Montague: Woman, you have no sense of it, 10
> Let me draw it straight
> If such is girl on marble stand and her weight one
> hundred stone
> Then boy in state upon the stand need be surface
> carved alone
> And eighty stones his weight
> Thus can brother Capulet steal poor dead son's gold
> While saving on the sculpting too - the more his
> purse to hold.
>
> Lady M: What villains are these Capulets?
> How can such hard hearts beat?
> But I will not let come to blows this hard heart
> villains cheat.
>
> Montague: Faith dear wife, I have devised a plan to
> make it right 20
> Now we the benefactors be - for we received the slight
> In secret shall I the Juliet cast around a hollowed
> core
> And to make the weight seem right inside base lead
> I'll pour
> So that we the richer shall be and thus set things
> aright.
> 4
> Scene III (a room in Capulet's house)
>
> Capulet: Tell me Gregory of Capulet house what my
> ransom paid 1
> You are freshly from the jail where we the law's hand
> stayed
> Now that you the spying do give us news that's
> Montague made.
>
> Gregory: Master, you know I was put under lock for
> naught but
> Taste of thumb - which did Samson that for honor's
> sake -
> And if all were aright strike dumb this Gregory who
> draws blade
> Only as he draws breath - but only to continue his
> poor life;
> But all is not right master and more's the grief to
> say
> Under shade of night these eye saw men of Montague
> vein
> Freight out a heavy laden box to forge with mighty
> strain. 10
>
> Capulet: But this is well - for gold is this to build
> our Juliet
> The heavier the box they bring the more beauty to
> beget!
>
> Gregory: If it's gold then must I hie myself on back
> to jail
> I am not a slackard, sir! I will prove worth my bail.
> When the men had off again, I with lock-pick in
> Cast about the forging room to test what was brought
> in
> Alchemy were better fit to make gold statues of these
> dead
> For nothing could be found in box but eighty weight
> of lead!
>
> Capulet: Damn the line of Montague every man-jack of
> their stain!
> There shall be no statue but one that's cut in twain!
> 20
> Black-Out
>
> Scene IV (a public place)
>
> Prince: Say you Friar Laurence you knew those young
> hearts well? 1
>
> Friar: I think I knew as much of them as any did -
> perhaps a little more
> But "know" them I did not at all.
>
> Prince: Still, gentle cleric,
> There must be some way from these dead children
> To betray the building storm between those parents
> Who race to prove themselves thricely idiots.
>
> Friar: Death is never much to wage a peace against.
> Would that lady Capulet and the dame Montague
> Carried children both inside - that would wonders do
> 10
> For women when pregnant are consumed all through
> And men, when their women bear, lose the stones
> of which their made and go all jelly too.
>
> Prince: Friar - you have lived long alone or faith
> clouds your biology but,
> To couch it lightly, The peaches those old prunes bear
> Shall ne'er again be plums - all the fruit that they
> might bear
> Was plucked ere I were crowned - and that which men
> might make beyond their vows had quite another
> effect.
> 5
>
> Friar: Perhaps we look wrongly to the tree?
>
> Prince: From whence else might the good or bad seed
> spring? 20
>
> Friar: Seeds have we need of none
> The field may long since harvested be...
> Attend. I go today to Mantua to collect up what I may
> Of what doomed Romeo took with him on his exile day
> Perchance in that sad burden some scrap of hope doth
> lay.
>
> Prince: I will further burden thee:
> I bid thee go in haste to Mantua and bring those
> scraps to me
> Together we may find a thing to patch peace
> permanently.
> Stay not for another word fly Friar for me.
>
> Capulet: (Entering as Friar exits opposite) My liege,
> I will no 30
> Longer stay my hand if these vile Monkey yews are
> left to...
> Fade-Out
>
> Scene V (a room in Romeo & Juliets' house )
>
> Romeo: Passing only four and ninety days methinks I
> could now return 1
> To that tomb, in which I once did dead lay, satisfied
> What more for might a good man ask?
> My most beautiful and sacred bride
> Who when fresh from noble Verona
> Could but burn water well
> Has hurled herself against our kitchen's task
> And as often as this attempt ends in death for those
> who the trials try
> I was never fed so much nor well.
> I am not thankful for my daily bread alone 10
> But that my wife and I - both once had "known"
> Those labors of the field or home
> Were better left for underlings, hirelings and drones
> -
> Have learned to share the work we now must self bear
> Finding pride endeavoring what we once not dare
> And have the happy closer come in all but one affair
> She will home.
> No argument could man give to hold his wife from
> mother!
> I will not say this is a fault
> Assured I am the love shared there is wholesome, good
> and natural 20
> Save my Juliet and I should in a Verona vault lie
> But that does make all the difference.
>
> Juliet: Romeo, Romeo where for art thou husband?
> (Entering, with a purpose)
> The midday table being cleared - have no appointments
> we
> And with six weeks 'til harvesting yet ploughing
> there shall be!
> I do but keep the pace, my lord, wilt thou but pace
> with me?
>
> Romeo: Pace with you will I not - out run you
> probably! (Chase, embrace & fall)
> 6
>
> Friar: Ho! The house! What noise is that? Who's in!
>
> Juliet: (Exiting) Fie on the fool who doth my
> lovespell break!
>
> Romeo: (Dressing) A pox upon the prissy man who
> deemed tights fit for men! 30
>
> Friar: What ho! Mantua house of Montague!
> Who stirs in rooms which should remain unmixed?
>
> Romeo: Two to whom this old farmhouse was sold
> Arriving fresh from Greece
> If you who shout without must need be told
> One Thisbe from the city Thebes
> And I, her husband, Pyramus.
>
> Friar: I am afraid you are taken in
> This land will not be sold until I to Verona turn
> With what was Romeo's. 40
> Will you not the door unlock to one Franciscan Friar
> Together I will show, good greeks, your realtor was a
> liar.
>
> Juliet: (Entering) A chance of news from Verona fair
> Dear husband bid him in
> I'm starved for news from that fair state
> Sweet husband bid him in.
>
> Romeo: Calm wife! We will not have all known.
> Friar, fair have we been done by your order fair
> Welcome Franciscan to our home
> What little we have we share 50
> Press but boldly on the door and come, there's no
> lock there!
>
> Friar: Thank you kindly Pyramus,
> (Entering) Laurence Friar am I
> And must confess thy wife and thee
> Have names which fit comfortable in my ear
> As if I had them somewhere heard in some previous year
> Come sir, let me have thy hand
> Ahlk! (faints cold)
>
> Juliet: Good my groom is our Friar Laurence dead.
>
> Romeo: (Soothing Friar) Dead? No, but shaved we have
> 60
> A decade from his wait to meet his maker.
> Larry! Laurence! Father wise!
> Doth my confessor live yet inside this extra large
> shell?
>
> Friar: My eyes do live but share stare with two who
> cannot.
>
> Romeo: Trust thy view - for we live 'tis true, death
> could keep us not.
> 7
>
> Friar: (Rising) But how?
> For I did find thee dead of liquor drunk in haste
> And thy tender breast was hewn - how doth one this
> erase?
>
> Romeo: Chide us not please father friend.
> Our plan was set that night before I came here to
> Mantua. 70
> Knowing we must both seem dead to have our life renew
> Parents, friends, friars misled - all this did we do
> Unknowing of your plan our plan I followed through
> Hearing death of Juliet my best acting did I do
> No query on any part unravel could our shrew -
>
> Friar: Stop! Tell me no more of it - my head is
> spinning 'round
> If one drop more in flood is made I am afraid I'm
> drown'd.
>
> Juliet: Husband has he not enough of shocks for one
> fair day?
> Nothing more of past shall pass, let us have some
> present say
> Of times and tides in Verona fair what chance since
> we away? 80
>
> Friar: The word that drives your families' deeds is
> ever as it was
> There heads are thick with besting that which the
> other does.
>
> Romeo: How now? They wear the peace we wove
> And unless my ears misled me as we misleading you
> A statue to my love and I should bind those families
> true.
>
> Friar: Aye, that's the rub that wears your wove peace
> thin
> For the brittle, picky bickering will do that garment
> in
> But by my troth, when's known you live will end all
> bickering
> Which holds the threadbare peace in place - then
> steel will out and sting!
>
> Juliet: Give ear my men for now's the time when
> women's hearts prevail 90
> For hatching in me is the way to save our truce so
> frail
> What chance have we to enter in your Verona cell my
> Friar?
>
> Friar: If by night - then simple task, but why my cell
> require?
>
> Juliet: Here is the kernel in my mind -
> My mother doth much of spirits believe
> Thus if you can contract
> Bid Lady Capulet on our return eve
> In your cell her dead daughter to contact
> Then I in ghostly white array appear to her in fact
> To constrain my mother hold her hand and keep the
> peace intact. 100
>
> Romeo: (Aside) I am the world's most luckiest man my
> life knows naught but joy
> If ever one lived in fortunes eye then I
> My wife is clever, beautiful, bold, wise and true
> Fate smiled its broadest smile yet the day I said "I
> do."
> Black-Out
> 8
> Scene VI (a public place )
>
> Benvolio: You know me well, sovereign mine, as kind
> and fair of mind 1
> But blood will flow unless we show some answer to
> the blow
> Each side would be behind.
>
> Prince: Well said Benvolio and I will take it in
> You must know the offenses rankle even regal skin.
>
> Benvolio: I know it benefits none well these fits and
> fights of fools
> Most unmeet dead lovers sweet should be such asses
> tools
> But how do we undo?
>
> Prince: I'll puzzle it without you friend for the
> grousing has me bored
> Until the time I find the clue see you keep up that
> sword. 10
>
> Benvolio: Friar Laurence, bless me do, what brings our
> holy man to view?
>
> Friar: (Entering with two hooded monks) Benvolio!
> (Almost fainting) O! O!
> What shocks are these that like to shake poor friar's
> pants
> I have lived two score years in two days!
>
> Benvolio: Father confessor confess me plain - what
> makes thy stain all ghostly go?
>
> Friar: Benedicite! Volio me plain I cannot make
> Alone me leave with Escalus: Prince
> My counsel for he to take.
>
> Benvolio: Eh?
>
> Prince: Ben, the Friar wants you gone for private
> words with me. 20
>
> Benvolio: Then am I a memory and that I might some
> service be
> I'll take the novices with me. Come cousin we shall
> the courtyard see.
> Uncover friend and greeted be!
>
> Friar: No! O! Benvolio! Go! These must no one see!
>
> Benvolio: A pimple on me for a clumsy lout... I'm out
> And so close I was to staying too... Ah well, adieu
> Exits
>
> Friar: If my heart does not today give out I shall
> live eternal.
>
> Prince: I always thought we would - but trembling
> Friar good
> What bring you me from dead boy's bed in Mantua.
>
> Friar: Naught good prince but married dead and merry
> may they be. 30
> Prince, I bear a plan on Lady Capulet to fool the
> enmity
> That both tribes do yet bear may it please please thee
> To show Juliet stirs undead unless the peace kept be
> And for the role of Juliet have I the actress
> perfectly.
> 9
>
> Prince: Oh simple Friar!
> What actress might you find who will not be found out
> Or else mother tricked would have actress ever about -
> So that if she promise all be well for each brief
> visitation
> To keep her lovéd offspring near she'd war and peace
> the nation
> Alternating points of view in perpetual rotation 40
> Dead daughter more to see. Damnation those two
> hearts are out!
>
> Friar: Ah hah. That makes the further to be said
> Quite the bumble be.
> Prince Escalus, what would our governing sovereign say
> If, hypothetical, cure be found
> So that both those well rememberéd hearts
> Could yet be made to pound
> Would such return be welcome or nay?
>
> Prince: Puzzle me not in the dusk or dawn and less at
> night or day
> If conjecture's all that's left to talk - there's
> nothing more to say.
>
> Friar: No... If, good counselor, in my travels few
> 50
> I had found... a... rare... herb
> Which when once bought and dried this wished for
> rebirth was done
> Would those who magically recalled your honored self
> condone?
>
> Prince: Ask me if this willow monk and that the
> willow's mate
> Became Juliet and Romeo how should law set their fate?
> The worst punishment for any pair: to but have no
> other mate;
> To live together 'til they die; to suffer children,
> age and plate
> And when they whimper 'bout this curse get nothing
> but the gate.
>
> Friar: Stern your sentencing, my lord, and altogether
> true
> For when I marry such and such that's how I curse
> them too! 60
> (Thinks) My liege, the herb is Tanna tree which calls
> the dead to life
> One seed is left in all this world and magical is
> it's price:
> As long as plant grows undisturbed those buried
> underneath
> Shall live again and walk this world - but their
> recall, I beseech
> My lord, is not lightly undertaken
> For the plant's a sensitive and if the root is shaken
> All who caused the planting will wither and be taken.
>
> Prince: Fancy's a poor partner Friar I'll not be
> married to it.
>
> Friar: Then merry will we never be - your doubting
> would undo it!
> Exiting
>
> Prince: Wait Friar! 70
> You grow most mysterious since your country jaunt
> But if I take this Tanna tale - put it to the test
> And, as I hope you're serious, what must your prince
> invest?
> 10
>
> Friar: Every single thing, my lord, every knife, every
> foul humour,
> Every trace of enmity, every disfavored rumor!
>
> Prince: Highest price for this touchy plant!
> Make ready father, make way
> I have prayed, you know, for such a price
> And give my word for this device
> All in Verona will pay! 80
>
> Friar: (Aside) Faith don't fail me now.
> (To Prince) Faith won't fail thee now.
> I shall bear the lover's to your courtyard
> And bring the sacred seed.
> Before the rite can right be made
> We must complete this deed:
> Every weapon, township and town,
> Must be gathered up in haste
> And those wasting implements
> Must be themselves laid waste 90
> Every sword melted down - blood never again to taste!
>
> Prince: By God I will make it so!
> Go thou and prepare
> Two days hence we shall know
> If we are fools or fair.
> Let the regal decree be made
> Every weapon will be surrendered to the forge
> On pain of in a grave be laid if any this deny!
> Exeunt
>
> Scene VII (a street in Verona)
>
> Gregory: No, I'll have no bit of it. 1
>
> Benvolio: The choice for ready us already being made
> When I detect; collect them up, I don't stop to
> persuade.
>
> Gregory: You, once when spring was new bid me put up
> my hand,
> Now command me yet again - How much shall I withstand?
> You bear no sword, so I'll just ignore, let the
> snarling poodle roar
> You'll get my sword only when you pry it from my cold
> dead hand!
>
> Prince: (Stepping up from shadows) Benvolio, I told
> you my decree
> Would bring good sense to every man so let good
> Gregory be!
> I gave my word each and every sword would go into the
> forge 10
> This Capulet man would keep hold of his, we will not
> his right ignore!
> But still, I made an oath and will not be thought a
> liar
> What shall we do Benvolio?
> Ah! I the good solution know: put man holding sword
> in fire.
> Exits
> 11
>
> Benvolio: Well? That thou heard is royal word - I'll
> be back with his men.
> Exits
>
> Gregory: Wait a tick, Ben.
> Twas but a jest.
> He would not...
> You can have my sword... Ben! Exits 20
>
> Scene VIII (The prince's courtyard)
>
> Prince: I've had the weapons gathered up and melted
> down in fire 1
> Just one thing I'll beg of you: Don't make me a fool
> Friar!
>
> Friar: When the day's been written down it will be
> worth read
> Tush, they come.
>
> Capulet: (Entering w/ Lady C. & Gregory) I've had a
> hundred swords undone this day
> Wilt thou still unbind
> That tiny shard of sanity
> I once could call a mind.
>
> Lady C: You'll keep a proper mind for this matter kind
> Or I'll take what's left away! 10
>
> Friar: Tut! Lady Capulet that is not the way.
>
> Lady C: Forgive me, Father and husband too
> I will nothing further say. Smile my lord.
>
> Montague: (Enters w/ Lady M. & Ben) For my one and
> only son I'd anything endure;
> Hurry wife, all others here, we are ready to conjure.
>
> Lady M: Delay not! I'm here. Please you begin
> Laurence Friar.
>
> Friar: It does, good lady, please me more than you
> will know.
> Two mounds of earth stand us before
> 'neath lay lovers dead
> I from case one seed deploy to plant here at their
> head 20
> And watering I wait awhile 'til this last be said:
> We pray -
> Lord in heaven may that which I now do
> Keep it's power ever secretly the more thy will to do
> And forgive this pagan rite I find that I must do
> We know the children will return for this we promise
> you
> No violence in Verona, never once untrue
> Or take the returned lover's back and strike us all
> dead too.
> Thus shall it be. Amen.
>
> All: Thus shall it be. Amen. 30
>
> Capulet: (After a long pause) How now?
> 12
>
> Friar: We will stand still yet a while 'til the
> water's taken in
> Then the earth shall open and give us your children.
>
> Capulet: Does no one here feel... well... undressed?
> Am I the only one
> Who sees his empty scabbard
> And thinks a prank's been done?
>
> Montague: I know how naked you must feel since your
> mischief is undone
> But we can stand a moment more if you can hold your
> tongue.
>
> Capulet: I'll hold your tongue you monkey faced... 40
>
> Friar: Tut! Gentle men will you end this before it
> has begun.
>
> Capulet: Alright, I'll bite, what do we - what's said?
> Dig the corpses up again and convince 'em they're not
> dead? Or -
> perhaps they'll come awandering from there recent
> churchyard grave
> Where for four months they have laid, satisfied...
>
> Gregory: Pardon my lord, some two comes from
> churchyard there
> They come from monument Capulet and one doth red
> flowers bear
> No, methinks red is stain upon the dress she wear
> Oh, my lord it's...!
>
> Prince: Juliet! (all kneel save Prince & Friar). 50
>
> Capulet: Praise God! (Ben & Lady C. faint)
>
> Montague: And here's my sweet son Romeo, Ho Boy! Well
> Met!(All meet & greet R & J )
>
> Friar: Well, my prince, was I wrong or will someone
> someday
> Write this wrong made right down profitably?
>
> Prince: That's for them to decide (Indicates audience)
>
> Narrator: Well there you have what did transpire
> Now are your hearts full won?
> No? Perchance I know some further fact
> You might would further know:
> The undisturbéd tree did thrive and peace which was
> forced here 60
> Lasted long after the death of all who did tonight
> appear
> And that is no cheap feat!
> Odd to tell; After the Friar,
> Juliet and Romeo died "Tanna tree" bore orangey globes
> The fruit eventually some one tried
> It tasted and looked like nothing so much as a peach -
> But as you and I have well found out
> It was truly quite a plum!
>
> Exeunt
> © 1990 & 1999 N. Barry Carver
>

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

Same here! I'll be there to see the production when -- you decide to put it up! -Stacey, 13:07:51 12/17/99 Fri

What, you got something against appearing in it? -- - Barry, 14:02:13 12/17/99 Fri

/ABSOLUTELY NOT! I'm there if you want me! -- Stacey :-), 12:11:23 12/20/99 Mon
- / Well, I think we KNOW the answer to that! (NT) -- - Barry { oh, you mean the play... yeah, for that too.}, 14:16:02 12/20/99 Mon
  - /You are SO bad! :-) -- Stacey, 16:30:02 12/21/99 Tue

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 2.94, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums^(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2012 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.

R o m e > o & J u l i e t > Revisited

R o m e
> o & J u l i e t
> Revisited