Imagined Balcony Scene #2

Solo Piccolo

Programme Note

Imagined Balcony Scene #2 is part of a series of pieces where I reimagine classic tropes from theatre and film. The first ‘Imagined Balcony Scene’, as one may of guessed, is the classic Romeo and Juliet scene, and the second, my ‘re-imagining’, makes Juliet a little more angry than in the original. She is annoyed her new love isn’t there. She shouts his name into the empty courtyard. She vents all her frustrations of teenage life as her new world collapses. She sings her song into the air. She was ready to give up everything, her name, her family, but would she now.

The piece also takes inspirations from a friend of mine’s recent trip to Verona, where they went to the ‘real’ balcony only to find it closed. The frustration of not being able to access the ‘real’ version of the famous ‘imagined’ balcony resulted in them re-enacting the original scene in every other space they could find. Hilarity ensued as they over dramatised the situation of both the young lovers, and themselves. This second story may also be a slight re- imagining of an almost true story.

Imagined Balcony Scene #2 was premiered by Conrad Marshall, at St. Michael’s, Ancoats, Manchester, on 4/5/17 and was commissioned as part of Psappha’s on-going ‘Writing For...’ project. Many thanks to the ensemble and everyone involved in their guidance and commitment to this project.

Liam Mattison (London, March 2017)