Page 63 - No fear Shakespeare - Romeo and Juliet

Maskers are '
masked party- goers who per- form a dance they've invented
ata party.
ROMEO
BENVOLIO
ACT 1. SCENE<I
NO FEAR 0CJ8W~8rn
ACT 1, SCENE 4
ROMEO, MERCUTIO, and BENVOLIO enter dressed as
maskers, along with five or six other M A S K E R S , carrying a drum and torches.
What will we say is our excuse for being here? Or should we enter without apologizing?
It's out of fashion to give lengthy explanations like that.We're not going to introduce our dance by hav- ing someone dress up as Cupid, blindfolded and car- rying a toy bow to frighten the ladies like a scarecrow. Nor are we going to recite a memorized speech to introduce ourselves. Let them judge us however they please. We'll give them a dance and then hit the road.
Give me atorch. I don't want to dance.I feel sad, so let me be the one who carries the light.
No, noble Romeo, you've got to dance.
Notme,believeme.You'rewearingdancingshoeswith nimble soles. My soul is made out oflead, and it's so heavy it keeps me stuck on the ground so I can't move.
You're a lover. Take Cupid's wings and fly higher than the average man.
His arrow has pierced me too deeply, so I can't fly high with his cheerful feathers. Because this wound keeps me down, I can't leap any higher than my dull sad- ness. I sink under the heavy weight of love.
ROMEO
MERCUTIO
ROMEO
MERCUTIO
ROMEO
MODERN TEXT 49