Romeo and Juliet - Mr. Robertson's Bunker

Shakespeare’s Day: What They WoreThe clothing which actors wear to perform a play is called a costume, to distinguish itfrom everyday clothing. In Shakespeare’s time, acting companies spent almost as much oncostumes as television series do today.The costumes for shows in England were so expensive that visitors from France were alittle envious. Kings and queens on the stage were almost as well dressed as kings andqueens in real life.Where did the acting companies get their clothes? Literally, “off the rack” and from usedclothing sellers. Wealthy middle class people would often give their servants old clothes thatthey didn’t want to wear any more, or would leave their clothes to the servants when theydied. Since clothing was very expensive, people wore it as long as possible and passed it onfrom one person to another without being ashamed of wearing hand-me-downs. However,since servants were of a lower class than their employers, they weren’t allowed to wear richfabrics, and would sell these clothes to acting companies, who were allowed to wear whatthey wanted in performance.A rich nobleman like Count Paris or a wealthy young man like Romeo would wear adoublet, possibly of velvet, and it might have gold embroidery. Juliet and Lady Capuletwould have worn taffeta, silk, gold, or satin gowns, and everybody would have had hats,gloves, ruffs (an elaborate collar), gloves, stockings, and shoes equally elaborate.For a play like Romeo and Juliet, which was set in a European country at about the sametime Shakespeare wrote it, Elizabethan everyday clothes would have been fine—theaudience would have been happy, and they would have been authentic for the play.However, since there were no costume shops who could make clothing suitable for, say,medieval Denmark for Hamlet, or ancient Rome for Julius Caesar, or Oberon and Titania’sforest for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, these productions often looked slightly strange—canyou imagine fairies in full Elizabethan collars and skirts? How would they move?Today’s audiences want costumes to be authentic, so that they can believe in the world ofthe play. However, Romeo and Juliet was recently set on Verona Beach, with very up-to-dateclothes indeed; and about thirty years ago, West Side Story, an updated musical version ofthe Romeo and Juliet tale, was set in the Puerto Rican section of New York City.Activity: Discuss what the affect of wearing “special” clothes is—to church, or to a party.Do you feel different? Do you act different? How many kinds of wardrobes do you have?School, play, best? Juliet and Romeo would have had only one type of clothing each, nomatter how nice it was.Activity: Perform a scene from the play in your everyday clothes, and then in moreformal clothes. Ask the participants and the spectators to describe the differences betweenthe two performances.22Utah Shakespearean Festival351 West Center Street • Cedar City, Utah 84720 • 435-586-7880