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A director discusses a vital scene from William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’, when the lead characters meet and kiss in Act 1 Scene 5. Their discussion focuses on how the characters would feel and react. A performance of the scene by a group of students is also included.

Engage an open class discussion about emotions that might surround a first kiss. With sensitivity, students could discuss their own experience. Copy the dialogue onto large sheets of paper and give out to students, who should work in pairs. They should choose their roles and highlight and annotate where they think there are clear emotions, what they are and how they change - for their character. Ask them to rehearse the scene and every time their role changes emotion, they should change movement, or body language - quite dramatically. This will be awkward at first. They should then rehearse it to make it as fluid as they can and more subtle. Ask them to consider the rhythm of the language with their movement. Discuss how this would help an actor to understand the scene and therefore help the audience.