Jennifer Reed of Jennifer Designs in Mullica Hill, New Jersey, plays with flowers rooted in literature with a full-sized mock-up of London’s old Globe Theatre, where many of William Shakespeare’s plays premiered. Shakespeare’s writing is covered with flowers. The rose, alone, is mentioned over 100 times in his poems and plays.
Reed’s display is a play. At random times during the flower show, a curtain will drop over the stage as the floral figures and props are rearranged through three narrative scenes. They loosely tell the story of “Romeo and Juliet” played out by a sunflower and a rose, lovers from opposite sides of a flower field.
The story was written by Reed’s daughter, Chloe Oechsle, 17. The full text is available for download on the Jennifer Designs website.
“It’s very nerve-racking,” Oechsle said. “But I’m glad for the opportunity to help my mom out like this.”
True to Shakespeare, Oechsle’s tale of star-crossed lovers, or in this case, flowers, is a tragedy, which Reed had concerns about.
“I thought it was in bad taste to have a sunflower and a rose carcass on the ground,” she said. “There was a long discussion on how to do that. So now we’re kind of alluding to it.”
Comments are closed.