Romeo and Juliet Were Refugees
It’s not just people who are running from war that are refugees. A refugee is anyone who lives in their own country but cannot live off their work. These people are refugees in their own nation, amongst their own people, in a system that used and discarded them, even though they played an important role in it. We live in times of global refugees. We are convinced that other people are refugees, but in fact we are, too.
The characters from Shakespeare’s tragedy become everyday people in Möderndorfer’s play. Moreover, their families are not enemies. It is the social environment and modern society that stand in the way of their young love just like they stand in the way of an entire generation of young people as the young people seem to be becoming aliens or refugees in their own country.
- No. of roles
- 10 min.
- No. of male roles
- 6 min.
- No. of female roles
- 4 min.
Script extract
ROMAN: I waited for you.
Juna looks at him. Roman stares into the distance.
JUNA: It passed so quickly.
ROMAN: It didn’t pass so quickly for me.
Juna looks at him.
Roman stares into the distance.
ROMAN: I thought you would write.
Juna looks at him.
Roman stares into the distance.
ROMAN: For three months I thought you would come, that you would write.
Juna looks at him.
Roman stares into the distance.
JUNA: I couldn’t.
ROMAN: I wrote to you.
Juna looks at him.
Roman stares into the distance.
ROMAN: Everything I had, I used for stamps and letters.
Juna looks at him.
Roman stares into the distance.
JUNA: I didn’t get them. Mother always threw them away.