LOVE
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- Juliet Meets Romeo
- The Balcony Scene
This is the next set of lesson plans for Romeo and Juliet, focusing on the theme of love. Follow along with them, or choose activities to supplement your teaching.
JULIET MEETS ROMEO (LESSON)
Learning Objective
To explore the linguistic relationship between Romeo and Juliet in Act I, scene 5.
Downloadable Resources
Starter (10 mins approx.)
Show students the video below of Act 1 Scene 5 before starting this lesson, to give them an overview of this key moment in the text. Once you have finished watching, ask students about the similarities between this scene and the opening scene of the play.
How does Shakespeare use public/private spaces and violence/emotion to create contrasts between characters? What effect does it have on characters’ behaviour to have this scene take place at a party, but at a party where identities are disguised?
Main activity (30 mins approx.)
Start by asking students to look at Romeo’s speech as he sees Juliet for the first time – lines 51-60. In pairs, ask students to take it in turns to speak each rhyming couplet. On each syllable, ask them to tap their chest.
What effect does the rhythm have? What does it feel like to speak it? What emotions is Romeo experiencing at this moment in the text and how does the way he speaks show us this?
See the downloadable lesson plan for the full activity, prompt questions and more.
Plenary (10 mins approx.)
Ask students to look back at the edit on the page and count the number of lines down to where Romeo and Juliet kiss for the first time. Ask them to look closely at the way the lines are structured in terms of rhyme and syllables. Can they notice these lines adhering to any particular form they recognise?
Once they have realised this section of the text is a Shakespearean sonnet, ask students to consider why this might be. We have a love poem here, saturated with religious imagery – what is this conveying to the audience about Romeo and Juliet and why? In what ways is this setting them up as fated, ‘star-crossed lovers’?
Give students some time to write notes to summarise their findings from today’s lesson.
Charlotte Beaumont as Juliet and Nathan Welsh as Romeo in the 2019 production of Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank: Romeo and Juliet.
THE BALCONY SCENE (LESSON)
Learning Objective
To explore the characterisation of Romeo and Juliet in Act II, scene 2.
Downloadable Resources
Starter (10 mins approx):
Show students an image of the Globe stage that clearly shows the balcony and the pillars. Ask them to consider how a scene with Juliet on a balcony and Romeo on the stage, with the start of the scene having Romeo and Juliet invisible to each other but visible to the audience, might be staged.
What effect might it have on the audience to have parts of the scene only audible to them and not one of the characters? How does this develop the connection between the audience and the characters?
If you have time, show students a couple of versions of this scene on stage to see how different directors have placed the actors on stage, and how the actors have engaged with the audience.
Main activity (30 mins approx.)
Divide the class into two and give one half of the class Romeo’s Act II Scene 2 edit and the other half Juliet’s Act II Scene 2 edit. Organise each half into small groups of 3-4. Ask each group to read through their lines together out loud, taking it in turns to read each full line (i.e. a complete sentence). What do they notice about the vocabulary their character uses? Is it romantic, practical, poetic, prosaic, fanciful, religious, mythological?
See the downloadable lesson plan for the full activity, prompt questions and more.
Plenary (10 mins approx.)
Watch the video below of Act II, scene 2 and ask the students to pay attention to the ideas that they have discussed in the starter and main activities.
Bonus (10 mins approx.)
Watch the Director, Lucy Cuthbertson, talking about the theme of love in the 2024/2026 production. Discuss with the class.