Basic Outline of Different Elements

Costumes

All characters will have basic present day clothing. Only the devil and angel will have costumes of their exact characters.

Scenic Design

The park helps set the mood. The stage is very simple.

Lighting

The lights will be used to help distinguish the different places on stage.

Casting

No specific mindset for actors. Just basic outline of characters.

Rehearsals
Rehearsals will take place every other day for 3 weeks and everyday for the last week.

Ground Plan: Bird's Eye View

As previously discussed, the set will not be a very important element in the play and therefore is left to be very simplistic. The differences in the 4 locations on the stage will be shown through lighting. Elizabeth’s and Mark’s rooms have potential to add maybe a chair or two if necessary. The angel and demon will remain on the levels and stairs at all times. The will use the different levels to help show different emotions and so they have a leeway to use some space.

All scenes take place in either, or both, the rooms, the ‘park’ or on the levels.

The Space

The play will be is romantic and asks the audience members to set their minds free to the world of possibilities. Therefore, this play would be staged on a stage in a park. The park should have many beautiful, lush trees along with a very open space around the stage and audience. This is a way to inspire the audience to think freely. It will be set on a stage so that the play may be seen by a large audience.

The play will be staged late afternoon going into sunset. The idea is that the play is timed to come to a close as the sun begins to set. This will help put a very beautiful picture in the audiences mind. The stage will be set so that the sun sets behind it providing marvelous lighting for the end of the play.

The Predominant Element

The predominant element in this play is THEME. The theme is the factor that drives the play. It has the basic idea that ‘If one conquers love, then the love can conquer all.’ The plot and characters help to establish and build upon the theme. Spectacle is left to a bare minimum and even language is quite simplistic. The theme of love is evident from the moment the audience walks in due to the seating arrangement. It is kept in strong consideration throughout the play.

Script Analysis

Where?

The stage will be set to show three locations on earth: Elizabeth’s room on the stage right, Marcus’ room on stage left and a park in the middle. The angel and demon will be standing at a height on levels set up in the background of the stage.

When?

The story takes place in this era. It shows a modern day couple and brings examples from modern day life into play. The story shows the first year of their relationship and the turmoil they face.

What?

The play is about Marcus and Elizabeth, young and truly in love, as they try to overcome every possible hurdle a modern day couple may face. The demon of heartbreak and betrayal and the angel of love embody every day hurdles faced by this era’s couples and the timeless faith and love that couples may have. It tells the story of the test that Mark and Liz must go through, of every block that is created in their path, and how they find the strength to overcome it.

Who?

Marcus: Marcus is a bright, aspiring person who is full of potential. Whatever he does, he does magnificently. He is strong and powerful and is gifted with musical talent. However, Marcus does not always find it easy when it comes to words; he is from a conservative family and has faced much with them along with being in many situations where his trust has been broken. When he goes to university, for the first, he lets out a craving to be in control and in power. He begins to love to party hard and not care about how he affects others. Still, no matter what he does, his heart remains pure, even when his mind takes over.

Elizabeth: Enter Elizabeth. Elizabeth comes from a family that has struggled to get past many hurdles as well. She has also faced many situations wherein her trust has been broken. However, she has always been hopeful, even if she figured she was about to go into a losing battle. While everyone believed, and told her to believe, that the world is a bad place filled with selfish human beings, she preferred to think “It’s the only world we have,” and that there is always some good in everyone. She has a habit of putting others before herself, possibly because of her sometimes low self-esteem. She is very bubbly and energetic and loves to talk, but more than anything, she loves to listen and observe.

When they get together, they form a deep connection, even though they don’t initially understand it as well. They are a perfect fit, even when they are fighting.

Angel of love and faith: This angel has been walking the planet for centuries trying to make people believe, trying to bring in the victory of love. He works counter the demon of heartbreak and betrayal. The angel begins as completely pure, and then by the end of the play, ends up showing a ‘bad’ side in order to get his way.

Demon of heartbreak and betrayal: The demon came to earth following the angel. He has grown increasingly cunning and successful in his mission to destroy love and faith. The demon starts out completely evil, but by the end of the play, is infused with some morals.

These two embody yin yang.

Why?

This play should be staged because it shows something everyone can relate to, yet it is unique in its way. It is fast paced and has a good flow to it. It is a play that will bring a lot of perspective. 

The Pitch

The Blood Wedding, or Not Yet, Romeo and Juliet, is a ray of hope in a world of increasingly breaking hearts. It tells the story of a modern day couple that is battling against all odds, fighting for their love. Elizabeth and Marcus come from different walks of life; while Liz has always been more of a free bird, Marcus has always been tied to his conservative family. When these two met in university, they knew it wasn’t going to be all smooth sailing, but they fell in love. Parallel to their story is that of an angel and a devil, and their story begun centuries ago; they are the demon of betrayal and heartbreak and the angel of faith and love. The demon has, since long, set out to destroy all couples on earth while the angel tries to guide them through thick and thin. Unfortunately the demon has been increasingly successful with every case she’s been taking on for the past few decades, thus making many in our generation lose their faith in true love. The angel spots Liz and Mark, believes they can be a turning point in this losing battle, so he makes a bet with the demon: if after one year of trying, the demon cannot break them up, she has to stop her evil work. The audience is engaged into a world that they can all relate to, a story similar to one many of them may have to tell, but with a slight spin on it.

The play will be fast-paced for the most part, showing many different problems and issues couples of today’s age and time face and showing approaches different people have taken to tackle each problem. As the audience enters, they will be asked to take a seat according to ‘believers’ and ‘non-believers’, where the people who believe ‘true love can overcome all’ shall be seated on the right, and those who don’t shall sit on the left. The idea is that throughout the course of the play, they are allowed to switch seating sections and the aspiration is that more people will move from the left to the right than from the right to the left.

The play will be filled with moments when people will laugh and times when they may want to cry, scenes where they will feel hurt and scenes in which they will feel like rejoicing. In a world that is growing more and more cynical, this play attempts to show that thinking rationally and thinking with your heart do not have to be two different things. 

The Metaphor

The moon in many places is thought to be a symbol of love. The yin yang sign is a world-renowned symbol for good and evil, representing that there is always some good in evil and some evil in good. This picture embodies the theme of the play as it represents the good and bad, the devil and the angel, and it also represents love. The moon’s glow, the light, represents the hope and faith in the couple’s true love. The darkness around the moon shows the darkness attempting to engulf the couple, which they are trying to fight against, while the stars are the rays of hope. This picture is the perfect way to describe the play without any words.

First Impression

    The first thought that comes to mind upon reading the script is ‘potential’. There are so many ways to interpret the play. The mother seems to be bitter to the father and towards the thought of her proposed daughter-in-law, while the father seems softer spoken. She is very proud of her son and seems disapproving of their marriage.

It sets the mood of this sort of turmoil and impeding danger at times, as well as having romanticism and a very touching, hopeful feel. The mood provides the setting to show someone trying to separate the couple, and someone trying to be their guardian angel.

The colors that came to my mind were red and white, like a devil and an angel. The devil is much more vigorous and the angel is a lot more soft-spoken, therefore, spoken over. The idea that I get for the play is to have a young couple, truly in love, facing different obstacles in their relationship (of the devil’s doing) while there is an angel who is trying to help them protect and preserve their relationship. The first thought that comes to mind upon reading the script is ‘potential’. There are so many ways to interpret the play. The mother seems to be bitter towards the father and his daughter. She is very proud of her son and seems disapproving of their marriage. It set the mood for someone trying to separate the couple, and someone trying to be their guardian angel.

     The colors that came to my mind were red and white, representing a devil and an angel and black and white, to represent yin yang. The devil is much more vigorous and the angel is a lot more soft-spoken, therefore, spoken over. The idea that I get for the play is to have a young couple, truly in love, facing different obstacles in their relationship that are thrown in their way by the mother, who will also play a double role of a devil in some scenes and the father, who will also play a double role of an angel, trying to silently help them through it all. The play is set in present time.