Sam Troughton:Draw, Benvolio; beat down their weapons. Gentlemen, for shame, forbear this outrage!
Michael Fentiman:There's different ways you can approach the violence, one is that they know right from the word go they're trying to kill each other.
Michael Fentiman:And the other one is they're just in the middle of it and they get caught up in a fight. And it spirals and spirals and spirals and spirals and then before you know it you've killed somebody.
Joseph Arkley:Tybalt and Mercutio, I don't necessarily think he wants to kill Mercutio, I think he just wants to show him that he's a master swordsman and he needs him out the way.
Joseph Arkley:However, Mercutio just spends the whole beginning scene winding him up and winding him up. To the point where Tybalt's surprised at how good a swordsman Mercutio is and the only thing he has left is this kind of snap reaction to use the claw.
Sam Troughton:Hold Tybalt! Good Mercutio!
Jonjo O'Neill:I'm hurt.
Michael Fentiman:It's left quite ambiguous, isn't it, how he's killed? Because, you know, underneath Romeo's arm.
Gruffudd Glyn:I mean it's not like he's actually just cut his throat open or anything so Shakespeare's left that open for you to decide. Is it a mistake? Is it a slip?
Jonjo O'Neill:If Shakespeare wanted it to be clear that Tybalt meant to kill Mercutio and the moment was clear, he would have made it clear. So what you do is look at it and think why is it ambiguous, what's to gain from this ambiguity?
Jonjo O'Neill:And then we kind of play with that and then use that as a kind of a as a device.
Joseph Arkley:Why does Tybalt make the choice to return into this scene? Is it because he knows that he's killed Mercutio and that's thrown him into some kind of frenzy?
Joseph Arkley:He's like, "Well I may as well come and finish it off, take Romeo out." Or is he checking out, is he coming back to check, to see, did I? Did actually, did that really… Kill him? Initially with the scramble it just, he just… …wildly…
Michael Fentiman:So he wildly throws a blow at him but he doesn't necessarily know what that blow's done.
Joseph Arkley:No.
Gruffudd Glyn:And we don't either. It feels like we've just managed to avoid the brawl that we were all scared would happen.
Jonjo O'Neill:I am spared.
Jonjo O'Neill:What? Hath he gone and hath nothing?
Joseph Arkley:What? Art thou hurt?
Jonjo O'Neill:Ay, a scratch. A scratch. Marry, it is enough.
Michael Fentiman:There's a kind of confusion that not quite, not quite know what's happened. Whether you might have stabbed Romeo. And then from you guys it's "Actually, yeah it's still ok. Mercutio's still joking as he is, Romeo's alive. They've gone. It's all alright." And then it gradually bleeds out.
Joseph Arkley:And Mercutio feels like he's constantly playing peek-a-boo with the truth as well. You never know when he's What he-- Whether he means what he's saying, or whether it's jokes, so it's kind of like, when does Mercutio know?
Michael Fentiman:Let's do it again, but I want you to focus on slightly more heroic views of yourself. All of you want to be seen as strong, brave, funny, glamorous. Let's just really push to the extreme with that side of someone.
Joseph Arkley:King of cats. Who's the king of cats?
Jonjo O'Neill:[LAUGHS] I'm hurt. A plague on both your houses.
Michael Fentiman:What in that idea of playing it for bravado is already in the scene?
Jonjo O'Neill:We've got to front up, because otherwise you're not going to get respect, you know? He's going to think he's stronger than you and that's something that you can't actually have. Otherwise next time you're in the street and he bites his thumbs at you, you're like, now what? Just going to walk away? You can't have that.
Jonjo O'Neill:Just cannot have that at all in the world that these lads are in in this play.
Joseph Arkley:It's a pack mentality thing. It's the-- You know, the presentation of it, you've gotta, even if you're cacking your pants, which I'm sure both of these guys are, you can't show that to your peers.
Sam Troughton:The hurt cannot be much.
Jonjo O'NeillNo.
Jonjo O'NeillIt's…
Jonjo O'Neillnot so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-door, but it's enough.
Jonjo O'Neill'twill serve.
Jonjo O'Neill:There was a sense of agreement amongst them that they were going to ignore what was happening.
Michael Fentiman:It's not happening.
Jonjo O'Neill:It's not happening, and that's the thing I find it interesting, was the fact they were-- They wanted to believe that this wasn't happening.
Michael Fentiman:Now let's play, not our public face to an extreme, but play what's happening to us through our conscience. So for everyone, suddenly now it's about the terror. And the fear of this moment.
Jonjo O'NeillI'm hurt.
Jonjo O'NeillI am sped!
Jonjo O'NeillWhat? Has he gone hath nothing?
Sam Troughton:What? Art thou hurt?
Jonjo O'NeillA scratch! A scratch!
Jonjo O'NeillMarry, 'tis enough. Where's my page? Villain, go fetch a surgeon.
Sam Troughton:Courage, man, the hurt cannot be much.
Jonjo O'NeillNo.
Jonjo O'Neill:It's not so deep as a well, or so wide as a church door, but it's enough.
Jonjo O'Neill'Twill serve.
Michael Fentiman:What's true for Mercutio in that draft?
Jonjo O'NeillFirst impulse I had was to get away. And it felt honest.
Michael Fentiman:I don't want you to see me like this.
Jonjo O'Neill:I don't want you to see me like this. Which is kind of interesting, the reverse of bravado is to hide [LAUGHS].
Jonjo O'Neill:'Cos that's actually what his impulse was, it wasn't like a It didn't feel like a way of playing it, it just felt like "Oh this is what I would do now." And it was to, to hide round there.
Michael Fentiman:There's that thing you said about wanting to hide. That bravado and the opposite of bravado in this situation are all interconnected, because he can't hide. Because he's amongst the group and the group makes that impossible.
Michael Fentiman:So in regards to that, you've got two totally polar opposite choices. Both of them are true. In a sense. So let's play the scene again shifting between the two in extremes. See what that does.
Jonjo O'Neill:Not so deep as a well or wide as a church door but it's enough. [LAUGHS] Look at that.
Jonjo O'Neill'Twill serve.
Jonjo O'Neill:Ask for me tomorrow and you'll find me a grave man.
Jonjo O'Neill:Grave man, what you don't get it? Grave…
Jonjo O'Neill:A plague on both your houses.
Michael Fentiman:By combining them, what did that do? What did that change?
Sam Troughton:There was something about the end that was really disturbing about Mercutio like… schizophrenically going from one extreme to the other. And going, I'm only joking. Or am I?
Jonjo O'Neill:It seemed like Mercutio was using his death as a weapon.
Sam Troughton:And then there was something unsettling about, "is this a joke or do you really need us to help you?" There was something, I don't know how you would define it, but it was, it was interesting going from one to the other.
Jonjo O'Neill:A braggart, a rogue, a thief, a villain. Fights by the book of arithmetic.
Jonjo O'Neill:Why the devil came you between us? I was hurt under your arm.
Sam Troughton:I thought all for the best.
Jonjo O'Neill:Help me into some house, Benvolio. Or I shall, I shall faint. [LAUGHS]
Jonjo O'NeillA plague on both your houses. [LAUGHS]
Gruffudd Glyn:It makes that line, "a plague on both your houses," very, very believable because you've got this sort of sadistic, weird joker giving him something really, really bizarre and, and, disturbing to that he's going to live with him for the rest of his days, but obviously he's only got a day to live anyway.
Sam Troughton:I see. It's fairly-- It's totally unreasonable, because he was trying to stop the fight.
Michael Fentiman discusses ambiguity in Shakespeare’s text.
Does Tybalt intend to kill Mercutio?
Jonjo O’Neill explores ways of delivering Mercutio’s dying scene; playing bravado and then showing fear.
This short film is from the 鶹Լ series, Shakespeare Unlocked.
Teacher Notes
This short film demonstrates how Shakespeare's ambiguity allows each theatre company to make their own choices about the staging of the scene.
It offers different interpretations of the scene which will encourage discussion.
Explain to students that there is nothing in the text that tells us whether Tybalt means to kill Mercutio, or whether Mercutio's death is an accident.
As they watch the workshop, ask your students to observe how the actors stage the fight.
How is the fatal wounding of Mercutio staged? What do the actors say about the staging of Mercutio's death?
In small groups ask students to jot down their observations about the three different ways the actor played Mercutio's death: showing bravado; playing the fear; and doing both.
- What did each interpretation highlight?
- Which interpretation did they think was most effective? Why?
- How does the way in which Mercutio's death is played affect the character of Romeo?
This short film is suitable for teaching GCSE English literature and drama in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and National 4/ 5 in Scotland.
More from Shakespeare Unlocked - Romeo and Juliet
Act 3, Scene 1 - Spoiling for a fight (workshop) video
The company discuss Shakespeare’s language and the reason for the fight.
Act 3, Scene 1 - The Fight. video
Young men from the Montague and Capulet families fight with tragic consequences.
Act 3, Scene 5 - Juliet is abandoned (workshop) video
The actors look at how Juliet becomes isolated from her mother, her father and her nurse.
About the 2011 RSC production. video
The cast discuss acting, directing and prop choices for this production.
Act 2, Scene 2 - Juliet's soliloquy (workshop) video
Mariah Gale and Sam Troughton explore the problem of Romeo’s name and Juliet’s solution.
Act 2, Scene 2 - Lovers unite (workshop) video
Romeo puts his life in danger by entering the Capulet orchard. Mariah Gale and Sam Troughton explore differing ways of playing the scene.
Act 2, Scene 2 - Romeo's soliloquy (workshop) video
Sam Troughton discusses how Romeo has no plan once he is discovered in the Capulet garden.
Act 2, Scene 2 - The Balcony. video
Romeo steals into the Capulet garden to find Juliet on her balcony, talking to herself.
