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Romeo and Juliet belongs to a tradition of tragic romances stretching back to antiquity. The plot is based on an Italian tale translated into verse as The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet by Arthur Brooke in 1562 and retold in prose in Palace of Pleasure by William Painter in 1567. Shakespeare borrowed heavily from both but expanded the plot by developing a number of supporting characters, particularly Mercutio and Paris. Believed to have been written between 1591 and 1595, the play was first published in a quarto version in 1597. The text of the first quarto version was of poor quality, however, later editions corrected the text to conform more closely with Shakespeare's original.

Shakespeare's use of poetic dramatic structure (including effects such as switching between comedy and tragedy to heighten tension, the expansion of minor characters, and numerous sub-plots to embellish the story) has been praised as an early sign of his dramatic skill. The play ascribes different poetic forms to different characters, sometimes changing the form as the character develops. Romeo, for example, grows more adept at the sonnet over the course of the play.

Romeo and Juliet has been adapted numerous times for stage, film, musical, and opera venues. During the English Restoration, it was revived and heavily revised by William Davenant. David Garrick's 18th-century version also modified several scenes, removing material then considered indecent, and Georg Benda's Romeo und Julie omitted much of the action and used a happy ending. Performances in the 19th century, including Charlotte Cushman's, restored the original text and focused on greater realism. John Gielgud's 1935 version kept very close to Shakespeare's text and used Elizabethan costumes and staging to enhance the drama. In the 20th and into the 21st century, the play has been adapted in versions as diverse as George Cukor's 1936 film Romeo and Juliet, Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 film Romeo and Juliet, Baz Luhrmann's 1996 MTV-inspired film Romeo + Juliet, and most recently, Carlo Carlei's 2013 film Romeo and Juliet.

is unknown when exactly Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet. Juliet's Nurse refers to an earthquake she says occurred 11 years ago.[26] This may refer to the Dover Straits earthquake of 1580, which would date that particular line to 1591. Other earthquakes—both in England and in Verona—have been proposed in support of the different dates.[27] But the play's stylistic similarities with A Midsummer Night's Dream and other plays conventionally dated around 1594–95, place its composition sometime between 1591 and 1595.[28][b] One conjecture is that Shakespeare may have begun a draft in 1591, which he completed in 1595.[29]

Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was published in two quarto editions prior to the publication of the First Folio of 1623. These are referred to as Q1 and Q2. The first printed edition, Q1, appeared in early 1597, printed by John Danter. Because its text contains numerous differences from the later editions, it is labelled a so-called 'bad quarto'; the 20th-century editor T. J. B. Spencer described it as "a detestable text, probably a reconstruction of the play from the imperfect memories of one or two of the actors", suggesting that it had been pirated for publication.[30] An alternative explanation for Q1's shortcomings is that the play (like many others of the time) may have been heavily edited before performance by the playing company.[31] However, "the theory, formulated by [Alfred] Pollard," that the 'bad quarto' was "reconstructed from memory by some of the actors is now under attack. Alternative theories are that some or all of 'the bad quartos' are early versions by Shakespeare or abbreviations made either for Shakespeare's company or for other companies."[32] In any event, its appearance in early 1597 makes 1596 the latest

possible date for the play's composition.[27]

The superior Q2 called the play The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet. It was printed in 1599 by Thomas Creede and published by Cuthbert Burby. Q2 is about 800 lines longer than Q1.[31] Its title page describes it as "Newly corrected, augmented and amended". Scholars believe that Q2 was based on Shakespeare's pre-performance draft (called his foul papers) since there are textual oddities such as variable tags for characters and "false starts" for speeches that were presumably struck through by the author but erroneously preserved by the typesetter. It is a much more complete and reliable text and was reprinted in 1609 (Q3), 1622 (Q4) and 1637 (Q5).[30] In effect, all later Quartos and Folios of Romeo and Juliet are based on Q2, as are all modern editions since editors believe that any deviations from Q2 in the later editions (whether good or bad) are likely to have arisen from editors or compositors, not from Shakespeare.[31]

The First Folio text of 1623 was based primarily on Q3, with clarifications and corrections possibly coming from a theatrical prompt book or Q1.[30][33] Other Folio editions of the play were printed in 1632 (F2), 1664 (F3), and 1685 (F4).[34] Modern versions—that take into account several of the Folios and Quartos—first appeared with Nicholas Rowe's 1709 edition, followed by Alexander Pope's 1723 version. Pope began a tradition of editing the play to add information such as stage directions missing in Q2 by locating them in Q1. This tradition continued late into the Romantic period. Fully annotated editions first appeared in the Victorian period and continue to be produced today, printing the text of the play with footnotes describing

the sources and culture behind the play.[

Romeo and Juliet ranks with Hamlet as one of Shakespeare's most performed plays. Its many adaptations have made it one of his most enduring and famous stories.[107] Even in Shakespeare's lifetime, it was extremely popular. Scholar Gary Taylor measures it as the sixth most popular of Shakespeare's plays, in the period after the death of Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Kyd but before the ascendancy of Ben Jonson during which Shakespeare was London's dominant playwright.[108][f] The date of the first performance is unknown. The First Quarto, printed in 1597, reads "it hath been often (and with great applause) plaid publiquely", setting the first performance before that date. The Lord Chamberlain's Men were certainly the first to perform it. Besides their strong connections with Shakespeare, the Second Quarto actually names one of its actors, Will Kemp, instead of Peter, in a line in Act V. Richard Burbage was probably the first Romeo, being the company's actor; and Master Robert Goffe (a boy), the first Juliet.[106] The premiere is likely to have been at The Theatre, with other early productions at the Curtain.[109] Romeo and Juliet is one of the first Shakespeare plays to have been performed outside England: a shortened and simplified version was performed in Nördlingen in 1604

Sir William Davenant of the Duke's Company staged a 1662 adaptation in which Henry Harris played Romeo, Thomas Betterton Mercutio, and Betterton's wife Mary Saunderson Juliet: she was probably the first woman to play the role professionally.[112] Another version closely followed Davenant's adaptation and was also regularly performed by the Duke's Company. This was a tragicomedy by James Howard, in which the two lovers survive.[113]

Thomas Otway's The History and Fall of Caius Marius, one of the more extreme of the Restoration adaptations of Shakespeare, debuted in 1680. The scene is shifted from Renaissance Verona to ancient Rome; Romeo is Marius, Juliet is Lavinia, the feud is between patricians and plebeians; Juliet/Lavinia wakes from her potion before Romeo/Marius dies. Otway's version was a hit, and was acted for the next seventy years.[112] His innovation in the closing scene was even more enduring, and was used in adaptations throughout the next 200 years: Theophilus Cibber's adaptation of 1744, and David Garrick's of 1748 both used variations on it.[114] These versions also eliminated elements deemed inappropriate at the time. For example, Garrick's version transferred all language describing Rosaline to Juliet, to heighten the idea of faithfulness and downplay the love-at-first-sight theme.[115][116] In 1750, a "Battle of the Romeos" began, with Spranger Barry and Susannah Maria Arne (Mrs. Theophilus Cibber) at Covent Garden versus David Garrick and George Anne Bellamy at Drury Lane.[117]

The earliest known production in North America was an amateur one: on 23 March 1730, a physician named Joachimus Bertrand placed an advertisement in the Gazette newspaper in New York, promoting a production in which he would play the apothecary.[118] The first professional performances of the play in North America were those of the Hallam Company.[119]

Garrick's altered version of the play was very popular, and ran for nearly a century.[112] Not until 1845 did Shakespeare's original return to the stage in the United States with the sisters Susan and Charlotte Cushman as Juliet and Romeo, respectively,[120] and then in 1847 in Britain with Samuel Phelps at Sadler's Wells Theatre.[121] Cushman adhered to Shakespeare's version, beginning a string of eighty-four performances. Her portrayal of Romeo was considered genius by many. The Times wrote: "For a long time Romeo has been a convention. Miss Cushman's Romeo is a creative, a living, breathing, animated, ardent human being."[122][120] Queen Victoria wrote in her journal that "no-one would ever have imagined she was a woman".[123] Cushman's success broke the Garrick tradition and paved the way for later performances to return to the original storyline.[112]

Professional performances of Shakespeare in the mid-19th century had two particular features: firstly, they were generally star vehicles, with supporting roles cut or marginalised to give greater prominence to the central characters. Secondly, they were "pictorial", placing the action on spectacular and elaborate sets (requiring lengthy pauses for scene changes) and with the frequent use of tableaux.[124] Henry Irving's 1882 production at the Lyceum Theatre (with himself as Romeo and Ellen Terry as Juliet) is considered an archetype of the pictorial style.[125] In 1895, Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson took over from Irving and laid the groundwork for a more natural portrayal of Shakespeare that remains popular today. Forbes-Robertson avoided the showiness of Irving and instead portrayed a down-to-earth Romeo, expressing the poetic dialogue as realistic prose and avoiding melodramatic flourish.[126]

American actors began to rival their British counterparts. Edwin Booth (brother to John Wilkes Booth) and Mary McVicker (soon to be Edwin's wife) opened as Romeo and Juliet at the sumptuous Booth's Theatre (with its European-style stage machinery, and an air conditioning system unique in New York) on 3 February 1869. Some reports said it was one of the most elaborate productions of Romeo and Juliet ever seen in America; it was certainly the most popular, running for over six weeks and earning over $60,000 (equivalent to $1,000,000 in 2021).[127][g][h] The programme noted that: "The tragedy will be produced in strict accordance with historical propriety, in every respect, following closely the text of Shakespeare."[i]

The first professional performance of the play in Japan may have been George Crichton Miln's company's production, which toured to Yokohama in 1890.[128] Throughout the 19th century, Romeo and Juliet had been Shakespeare's most popular play, measured by the number of professional performances. In the 20th century it would become the second most popular, behind Hamlet.[129]

20th-century theatre

In 1933, the play was revived by actress Katharine Cornell and her director husband Guthrie McClintic and was taken on a seven-month nationwide tour throughout the United States. It starred Orson Welles, Brian Aherne and Basil Rathbone. The production was a modest success, and so upon the return to New York, Cornell and McClintic revised it, and for the first time the play was presented with almost all the scenes intact, including the Prologue. The new production opened on Broadway in December 1934. Critics wrote that Cornell was "the greatest Juliet of her time", "endlessly haunting", and "the most lovely and enchanting Juliet our present-day theatre has seen".

production in 1935 featured Gielgud and Laurence Olivier as Romeo and Mercutio, exchanging roles six weeks into the run, with Peggy Ashcroft as Juliet.[131] Gielgud used a scholarly combination of Q1 and Q2 texts and organised the set and costumes to match as closely as possible the Elizabethan period. His efforts were a huge success at the box office, and set the stage for increased historical realism in later productions.[132] Olivier later compared his performance and Gielgud's: "John, all spiritual, all spirituality, all beauty, all abstract things; and myself as all earth, blood, humanity ... I've always felt that John missed the lower half and that made me go for the other ... But whatever it was, when I was playing Romeo I was carrying a torch, I was trying to sell realism in Shakespeare."[133]

Peter Brook's 1947 version was the beginning of a different style of Romeo and Juliet performances. Brook was less concerned with realism, and more concerned with translating the play into a form that could communicate with the modern world. He argued, "A production is only correct at the moment of its correctness, and only good at the moment of its success."[134] Brook excluded the final reconciliation of the families from his performance text.[135]

Throughout the century, audiences, influenced by the cinema, became less willing to accept actors distinctly older than the teenage characters they were playing.[136] A significant example of more youthful casting was in Franco Zeffirelli's Old Vic production in 1960, with John Stride and Judi Dench, which would serve as the basis for his 1968 film.[135] Zeffirelli borrowed from Brook's ideas, altogether removing around a third of the play's text to make it more accessible. In an interview with The Times, he stated that the play's "twin themes of love and the total breakdown of understanding between two generations" had contemporary relevance.[135][j]

Recent performances often set the play in the contemporary world. For example, in 1986, the Royal Shakespeare Company set the play in modern Verona. Switchblades replaced swords, feasts and balls became drug-laden rock parties, and Romeo committed suicide by hypodermic needle. Neil Bartlett's production of Romeo and Juliet themed the play very contemporary with a cinematic look which started its life at the Lyric Hammersmith, London then went to West Yorkshire Playhouse for an exclusive run in 1995. The cast included Emily Woof as Juliet, Stuart Bunce as Romeo, Sebastian Harcombe as Mercutio, Ashley Artus as Tybalt, Souad Faress as Lady Capulet and Silas Carson as Paris.[138] In 1997, the Folger Shakespeare Theatre produced a version set in a typical suburban world. Romeo sneaks into the Capulet barbecue to meet Juliet, and Juliet discovers Tybalt's death while in class at school.[139]

The play is sometimes given a historical setting, enabling audiences to reflect on the underlying conflicts. For example, adaptations have been set in the midst of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict,[140] in the apartheid era in South Africa,[141] and in the aftermath of the Pueblo Revolt.[142] Similarly, Peter Ustinov's 1956 comic adaptation, Romanoff and Juliet, is set in a fictional mid-European country in the depths of the Cold War.[143] A mock-Victorian revisionist version of Romeo and Juliet's final scene (with a happy ending, Romeo, Juliet, Mercutio, and Paris restored to life, and Benvolio revealing that he is Paris's love, Benvolia, in disguise) forms part of the 1980 stage-play The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.[144] Shakespeare's R&J, by Joe Calarco, spins the classic in a modern tale of gay teenage awakening.[145] A recent comedic musical adaptation was The Second City's Romeo and Juliet Musical: The People vs. Friar Laurence, the Man Who Killed Romeo and Juliet, set in modern times.[146]

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Romeo and Juliet has often been the choice of Shakespeare plays to open a classical theatre company, beginning with Edwin Booth's inaugural production of that play in his theatre in 1869, the newly re-formed company of the Old Vic in 1929 with John Gielgud, Martita Hunt, and Margaret Webster,[147] as well as the Riverside Shakespeare Company in its founding production in New York City in 1977, which used the 1968 film of Franco Zeffirelli's production as its inspiration.[148]

In 2013, Romeo and Juliet ran on Broadway at Richard Rodgers Theatre from 19 September to 8 December for 93 regular performances after 27 previews starting on 24 August with Orlando Bloom and Condola Rashad in the starring roles

The best-known ballet version is Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet.[150] Originally commissioned by the Kirov Ballet, it was rejected by them when Prokofiev attempted a happy ending and was rejected again for the experimental nature of its music. It has subsequently attained an "immense" reputation, and has been choreographed by John Cranko (1962) and Kenneth MacMillan (1965) among others.[151]

In 1977, Michael Smuin's production of one of the play's most dramatic and impassioned dance interpretations was debuted in its entirety by San Francisco Ballet. This production was the first full-length ballet to be broadcast by the PBS series "Great Performances: Dance in America"; it aired in 1978.[152]

Dada Masilo, a South African dancer and choreographer, reinterpreted Romeo and Juliet in a new modern light. She introduced changes to the story, notably that of presenting the two families as multiracial.

least 24 operas have been based on Romeo and Juliet.[156] The earliest, Romeo und Julie in 1776, a Singspiel by Georg Benda, omits much of the action of the play and most of its characters and has a happy ending. It is occasionally revived. The best-known is Gounod's 1867 Roméo et Juliette (libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré), a critical triumph when first performed and frequently revived today.[157][158] Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi is also revived from time to time, but has sometimes been judged unfavourably because of its perceived liberties with Shakespeare; however, Bellini and his librettist, Felice Romani, worked from Italian sources—principally Romani's libretto for Giulietta e Romeo by Nicola Vaccai—rather than directly adapting Shakespeare's play.[159] Among later operas, there is Heinrich Sutermeister's 1940 work Romeo und Julia.[160]

Roméo et Juliette by Berlioz is a "symphonie dramatique", a large-scale work in three parts for mixed voices, chorus, and orchestra, which premiered in 1839.[161] Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture (1869, revised 1870 and 1880) is a 15-minute symphonic poem, containing the famous melody known as the "love theme".[162] Tchaikovsky's device of repeating the same musical theme at the ball, in the balcony scene, in Juliet's bedroom and in the tomb[163] has been used by subsequent directors: for example, Nino Rota's love theme is used in a similar way in the 1968 film of the play, as is Des'ree's "Kissing You" in the 1996 film.[164] Other classical composers influenced by the play include Henry Hugh Pearson (Romeo and Juliet, overture for orchestra, Op. 86), Svendsen (Romeo og Julie, 1876), Delius (A Village Romeo and Juliet, 1899–1901), Stenhammar (Romeo och Julia, 1922), and Kabalevsky (Incidental Music to Romeo and Juliet, Op. 56, 1956).[165]

The play influenced several jazz works, including Peggy Lee's "Fever".[155] Duke Ellington's Such Sweet Thunder contains a piece entitled "The Star-Crossed Lovers"[166] in which the pair are represented by tenor and alto saxophones: critics noted that Juliet's sax dominates the piece, rather than offering an image of equality.[167] The play has frequently influenced popular music, including works by The Supremes, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Lou Reed,[168] and Taylor Swift.[169] The most famous such track is Dire Straits' "Romeo and Juliet".[170]

The most famous musical theatre adaptation is West Side Story with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. It débuted on Broadway in 1957 and in the West End in 1958 and was twice adapted as popular films in 1961 and in 2021. This version updated the setting to mid-20th-century New York City and the warring families to ethnic gangs.[171] Other musical adaptations include Terrence Mann's 1999 rock musical William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, co-written with Jerome Korman;[172] Gérard Presgurvic's 2001 Roméo et Juliette, de la Haine à l'Amour; Riccardo Cocciante's 2007 Giulietta & Romeo[173] and Johan Christher Schütz; and Johan Petterssons's 2013 adaptation Carnival Tale (Tivolisaga), which takes place at a travelling carnival

Romeo and Juliet had a profound influence on subsequent literature. Before then, romance had not even been viewed as a worthy topic for tragedy.[175] In Harold Bloom's words, Shakespeare "invented the formula that the sexual becomes the erotic when crossed by the shadow of death".[176] Of Shakespeare's works, Romeo and Juliet has generated the most—and the most varied—adaptations, including prose and verse narratives, drama, opera, orchestral and choral music, ballet, film, television, and painting.[177][k] The word "Romeo" has even become synonymous with "male lover" in English.[178]

Romeo and Juliet was parodied in Shakespeare's own lifetime: Henry Porter's Two Angry Women of Abingdon (1598) and Thomas Dekker's Blurt, Master Constable (1607) both contain balcony scenes in which a virginal heroine engages in bawdy wordplay.[179] The play directly influenced later literary works. For example, the preparations for a performance form a major plot in Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby.[180]

Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare's most-illustrated works.[181] The first known illustration was a woodcut of the tomb scene,[182] thought to be created by Elisha Kirkall, which appeared in Nicholas Rowe's 1709 edition of Shakespeare's plays.[183] Five paintings of the play were commissioned for the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery in the late 18th century, one representing each of the five acts of the play.[184] Early in the 19th century, Henry Thomson painted Juliet after the Masquerade, an Wikisource-logo.svg engraving. of which was published in The Literary Souvenir, 1828, with an accompanying poem by Letitia Elizabeth Landon. The 19th-century fashion for "pictorial" performances led to directors' drawing on paintings for their inspiration, which, in turn, influenced painters to depict actors and scenes from the theatre.[185] In the 20th century, the play's most iconic visual images have derived from its popular film versions.[186]

David Blixt's 2007 novel The Master Of Verona imagines the origins of the famous Capulet-Montague feud, combining the characters from Shakespeare's Italian plays with the historical figures of Dante's time.[187] Blixt's subsequent novels Voice Of The Falconer (2010), Fortune's Fool (2012), and The Prince's Doom (2014) continue to explore the world, following the life of Mercutio as he comes of age. More tales from Blixt's Star-Cross'd series appear in Varnished Faces: Star-Cross'd Short Stories (2015) and the plague anthology, We All Fall Down (2020). Blixt also authored Shakespeare's Secrets: Romeo & Juliet (2018), a collection of essays on the history of Shakespeare's play in performance, in which Blixt asserts the play is structurally not a Tragedy, but a Comedy-Gone-Wrong. In 2014 Blixt and his wife, stage director Janice L Blixt, were guests of the city of Verona, Italy for the launch of the Italian language edition of The Master Of Verona, staying with Dante's descendants and filmmaker Anna Lerario, with whom Blixt collaborated on a film about the life of Veronese prince Cangrande della Scala.[188][189]

Lois Leveen's 2014 novel Juliet's Nurse imagined the fourteen years leading up to the events in the play from the point of view of the nurse. The nurse has the third largest number of lines in the original play; only the eponymous characters have more lines.[190]

The play was the subject of a 2017 General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) question by the Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations board that was administered to c. 14000 students. The board attracted widespread media criticism and derision after the question appeared to confuse the Capulets and the Montagues,[191][192][193] with exams regulator Ofqual describing the error as unacceptable.[194]

Romeo and Juliet was adapted into manga format by publisher UDON Entertainment's Manga Classics imprint and was released in May 2018.

Shearer and Leslie Howard, with a combined age over 75, played the teenage lovers in George Cukor's MGM 1936 film version. Neither critics nor the public responded enthusiastically. Cinema-goers considered the film too "arty", staying away as they had from Warner's A Midsummer Night's Dream a year before: leading to Hollywood abandoning the Bard for over a decade.[199] Renato Castellani won the Grand Prix at the Venice Film Festival for his 1954 film of Romeo and Juliet.[200] His Romeo, Laurence Harvey, was already an experienced screen actor.[201] By contrast, Susan Shentall, as Juliet, was a secretarial student who was discovered by the director in a London pub and was cast for her "pale sweet skin and honey-blonde hair".[202][l]

Stephen Orgel describes Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 Romeo and Juliet as being "full of beautiful young people, and the camera and the lush technicolour make the most of their sexual energy and good looks".[186] Zeffirelli's teenage leads, Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey, had virtually no previous acting experience but performed capably and with great maturity.[203][204] Zeffirelli has been particularly praised,[m] for his presentation of the duel scene as bravado getting out-of-control.[206] The film courted controversy by including a nude wedding-night scene[207] while Olivia Hussey was only fifteen.[208]

Baz Luhrmann's 1996 Romeo + Juliet and its accompanying soundtrack successfully targeted the "MTV Generation": a young audience of similar age to the story's characters.[209] Far darker than Zeffirelli's version, the film is set in the "crass, violent and superficial society" of Verona Beach and Sycamore Grove.[210] Leonardo DiCaprio was Romeo and Claire Danes was Juliet.

The play has been widely adapted for TV and film. In 1960, Peter Ustinov's cold-war stage parody, Romanoff and Juliet was filmed.[143] The 1961 film West Side Story—set among New York gangs—featured the Jets as white youths, equivalent to Shakespeare's Montagues, while the Sharks, equivalent to the Capulets, are Puerto Rican.[211] In 2006, Disney's High School Musical made use of Romeo and Juliet's plot, placing the two young lovers in different high-school cliques instead of feuding families.[212] Film-makers have frequently featured characters performing scenes from Romeo and Juliet.[213][n] The conceit of dramatising Shakespeare writing Romeo and Juliet has been used several times,[214][215] including John Madden's 1998 Shakespeare in Love, in which Shakespeare writes the play against the backdrop of his own doomed love affair.[216][217] An anime series produced by Gonzo and SKY Perfect Well Think, called Romeo x Juliet, was made in 2007 and the 2013 version is the latest English-language film based on the play. In 2013, Sanjay Leela Bhansali directed the Bollywood film Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, a contemporary version of the play which starred Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone in leading roles. The film was a commercial and critical success.[218][219] In February 2014, BroadwayHD released a filmed version of the 2013 Broadway Revival of Romeo and Juliet. The production starred Orlando Bloom and Condola Rashad.[220]

Modern social media and virtual world productions

In April and May 2010, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Mudlark Production Company presented a version of the play, entitled Such Tweet Sorrow, as an improvised, real-time series of tweets on Twitter. The production used RSC actors who engaged with the audience as well each other, performing not from a traditional script but a "Grid" developed by the Mudlark production team and writers Tim Wright and Bethan Marlow. The performers also make use of other media sites such as YouTube for pictures and video.[

The play, set in Verona, Italy, begins with a street brawl between Montague and Capulet servants who, like the masters they serve, are sworn enemies. Prince Escalus of Verona intervenes and declares that further breach of the peace will be punishable by death. Later, Count Paris talks to Capulet about marrying his daughter Juliet, but Capulet asks Paris to wait another two years and invites him to attend a planned Capulet ball. Lady Capulet and Juliet's Nurse try to persuade Juliet to accept Paris's courtship.

Meanwhile, Benvolio talks with his cousin Romeo, Montague's son, about Romeo's recent depression. Benvolio discovers that it stems from unrequited infatuation for a girl named Rosaline, one of Capulet's nieces. Persuaded by Benvolio and Mercutio, Romeo attends the ball at the Capulet house in hopes of meeting Rosaline. However, Romeo instead meets and falls in love with Juliet. Juliet's cousin, Tybalt, is enraged at Romeo for sneaking into the ball but is only stopped from killing Romeo by Juliet's father, who does not wish to shed blood in his house. After the ball, in what is now famously known as the "balcony scene", Romeo sneaks into the Capulet orchard and overhears Juliet at her window vowing her love to him in spite of her family's hatred of the Montagues. Romeo makes himself known to her, and they agree to be married. With the help of Friar Laurence, who hopes to reconcile the two families through their children's union, they are secretly married the next day.

Tybalt, meanwhile, still incensed that Romeo had sneaked into the Capulet ball, challenges him to a duel. Romeo, now considering Tybalt his kinsman, refuses to fight. Mercutio is offended by Tybalt's insolence, as well as Romeo's "vile submission",[1] and accepts the duel on Romeo's behalf. Mercutio is fatally wounded when Romeo attempts to break up the fight. Grief-stricken and racked with guilt, Romeo confronts and slays Tybalt.

Benvolio argues that Romeo has justly executed Tybalt for the murder of Mercutio. The Prince, now having lost a kinsman in the warring families' feud, exiles Romeo from Verona, under penalty of death if he ever returns. Romeo secretly spends the night in Juliet's chamber, where they consummate their marriage. Capulet, misinterpreting Juliet's grief, agrees to marry her to Count Paris and threatens to disown her when she refuses to become Paris's "joyful bride".[2] When she then pleads for the marriage to be delayed, her mother rejects her.

Juliet visits Friar Laurence for help, and he offers her a potion that will put her into a deathlike coma or catalepsy for "two and forty hours".[3] The Friar promises to send a messenger to inform Romeo of the plan so that he can rejoin her when she awakens. On the night before the wedding, she takes the drug and, when discovered apparently dead, she is laid in the family crypt.

The messenger, however, does not reach Romeo and, instead, Romeo learns of Juliet's apparent death from his servant, Balthasar. Heartbroken, Romeo buys poison from an apothecary and goes to the Capulet crypt. He encounters Paris who has come to mourn Juliet privately. Believing Romeo to be a vandal, Paris confronts him and, in the ensuing battle, Romeo kills Paris. Still believing Juliet to be dead, he drinks the poison. Juliet then awakens and, discovering that Romeo is dead, stabs herself with his dagger and joins him in death. The feuding families and the Prince meet at the tomb to find all three dead. Friar Laurence recounts the story of the two "star-cross'd lovers". The families are reconciled by their children's deaths and agree to end their violent feud. The play ends with the Prince's elegy for the lovers: "For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo."

see § Shakespeare's day

^ As well as A Midsummer Night's Dream, Gibbons draws parallels with Love's Labour's Lost and Richard II.[28]

^ Levenson defines "star-cross'd" as "thwarted by a malign star".[63]

^ When performed in the central yard of an inn and in public theaters such as the Globe Theatre the only source of lighting was daylight. When performed at Court, inside the stately home of a member of the nobility and in indoor theaters such as the Blackfriars theatre candle lighting was used and plays could be performed even at night.

^ Halio here quotes Karl A. Menninger's Man Against Himself (1938).[85]

^ The five more popular plays, in descending order, are Henry VI, Part 1, Richard III, Pericles, Hamlet and Richard II.[108]

^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved 16 April 2022.

^ Booth's Romeo and Juliet was rivalled in popularity only by his own "hundred night Hamlet" at The Winter Garden of four years before.

^ First page of the program for the opening night performance of Romeo and Juliet at Booth's Theatre, 3 February 1869.

^ Levenson provides the quote from the 1960 interview with Zeffirelli in The Times.[137]

^ Levenson credits this list of genres to Stanley Wells.

^ Brode quotes Renato Castellani.

^ Brode cites Anthony West of Vogue and Mollie Panter-Downes of The New Yorker as examples.[205]

^ McKernan and Terris list 39 instances of uses of Romeo and Juliet, not including films of the play itself.

References

All references to Romeo and Juliet, unless otherwise specified, are taken from the Arden Shakespeare second edition (Gibbons, 1980) based on the Q2 text of 1599, with elements from Q1 of 1597.[223] Under its referencing system, which uses Roman numerals, II.ii.33 means act 2, scene 2, line 33, and a 0 in place of a scene number refers to the prologue to the act.

^ Romeo and Juliet, III.i.73.

^ Romeo and Juliet, III.v.115.

^ Romeo and Juliet, IV.i.105.

^ Romeo and Juliet, V.iii.308–309.

^ Halio 1998, p. 93.

^ Gibbons 1980, p. 33.

^ Moore 1930, pp. 264–77.

^ Higgins 1998, p. 223.

^ a b Higgins 1998, p. 585.

^ a b Hosley 1965, p. 168.

^ Gibbons 1980, pp. 33–34.

^ Levenson 2000, p. 4.

^ a b da Porto 1831.

^ Prunster 2000, pp. 2–3.

^ a b Moore 1937, pp. 38–44.

^ Muir 1998, pp. 86–89.

^ Da Porto does not specify which Bartolomeo is intended, whether Bartolomeo I (regnat 1301–1304) or Bartolomeo II (regnat 1375–1381), though the association of the former with his patronage of Dante makes him perhaps slightly more likely, given that Dante actually mentions the Cappelletti and Montecchi in his Commedia.

^ a b c Scarci 1993–1994.

^ Da Porto, Luigi. "Historia novellamente ritrovata di due nobili amanti, (A Newly-Discovered History of two Noble Lovers)".

^ Gibbons 1980, pp. 35–36.

^ a b Gibbons 1980, p. 37.

^ Keeble 1980, p. 18.

^ Roberts 1902, pp. 41–44.

^ Gibbons 1980, pp. 32, 36–37.

^ Levenson 2000, pp. 8–14.

^ Romeo and Juliet, I.iii.23.

^ a b Gibbons 1980, pp. 26–27.

^ a b Gibbons 1980, pp. 29–31.

^ Gibbons 1980, p. 29.

^ a b c Spencer 1967, p. 284.

^ a b c Halio 1998, pp. 1–2.

^ Wells 2013.

^ Gibbons 1980, p. 21.

^ Gibbons 1980, p. ix.

^ Halio 1998, pp. 8–9.

^ a b Bowling 1949, pp. 208–20.

^ Halio 1998, p. 65.

^ Romeo and Juliet, I.v.92–99.

^ a b Honegger 2006, pp. 73–88.

^ Groves 2007, pp. 68–69.

^ Groves 2007, p. 61.

^ Siegel 1961, pp. 371–92.

^ Romeo and Juliet, II.v.38–42.

^ Romeo and Juliet, V.iii.169–170.

^ MacKenzie 2007, pp. 22–42.

^ Romeo and Juliet, III.i.138.

^ Evans 1950, pp. 841–65.

^ a b c Draper 1939, pp. 16–34.

^ a b c Nevo 1972, pp. 241–58.

^ Romeo and Juliet, I.i.167–171.

^ a b Parker 1968, pp. 663–74.

^ Romeo and Juliet, II.ii.

^ Romeo and Juliet, I.v.42.

^ Romeo and Juliet, I.v.44–45.

^ Romeo and Juliet, II.ii.26–32.

^ Romeo and Juliet, I.v.85–86.

^ Romeo and Juliet, III.ii.17–19.

^ Halio 1998, pp. 55–56.

^ a b c Tanselle 1964, pp. 349–61.

^ Romeo and Juliet, III.iv.8–9.

^ Romeo and Juliet, II.ii.109–111.

^ Romeo and Juliet, I.0.6.

^ Levenson 2000, p. 142.

^ Muir 2005, pp. 34–41.

^ Lucking 2001, pp. 115–26.

^ Halio 1998, pp. 55–58.

^ Driver 1964, pp. 363–70.

^ a b Scott 1987, p. 415.

^ Scott 1987, p. 410.

^ Scott 1987, pp. 411–12.

^ Shapiro 1964, pp. 498–501.

^ Bonnard 1951, pp. 319–27.

^ a b Halio 1998, pp. 20–30.

^ a b Halio 1998, p. 51.

^ Halio 1998, pp. 47–48.

^ Halio 1998, pp. 48–49.

^ Romeo and Juliet, II.ii.90.

^ Halio 1998, pp. 49–50.

^ Levin 1960, pp. 3–11.

^ Halio 1998, pp. 51–52.

^ Halio 1998, pp. 52–55.

^ Bloom 1998, pp. 92–93.

^ Wells 2004, pp. 11–13.

^ a b Halio 1998, p. 82.

^ Menninger 1938.

^ Appelbaum 1997, pp. 251–72.

^ Romeo and Juliet, V.i.1–11.

^ Halio 1998, pp. 81, 83.

^ Romeo and Juliet, I.v.137.

^ Halio 1998, pp. 84–85.

^ Halio 1998, p. 85.

^ Romeo and Juliet, III.i.112.

^ Kahn 1977, pp. 5–22.

^ Halio 1998, pp. 87–88.

^ Halio 1998, pp. 89–90.

^ Levenson 2000, pp. 25–26.

^ Goldberg 1994.

^ Halio 1998, pp. 85–86.

^ Romeo and Juliet, II.i.24–26.

^ Rubinstein 1989, p. 54.

^ Romeo and Juliet, II.ii.43–44.

^ Goldberg 1994, pp. 221–27.

^ da Porto 1868, p. 10.

^ a b Leveen 2014.

^ OED: balcony.

^ a b Halio 1998, p. 97.

^ Halio 1998, p. ix.

^ a b Taylor 2002, p. 18.

^ Levenson 2000, p. 62.

^ Dawson 2002, p. 176.

^ Marsden 2002, p. 21.

^ a b c d Halio 1998, pp. 100–02.

^ Levenson 2000, p. 71.

^ Marsden 2002, pp. 26–27.

^ Branam 1984, pp. 170–79.

^ Stone 1964, pp. 191–206.

^ Pedicord 1954, p. 14.

^ Morrison 2007, p. 231.

^ Morrison 2007, p. 232.

^ a b Gay 2002, p. 162.

^ Halliday 1964, pp. 125, 365, 420.

^ The Times 1845.

^ Potter 2001, pp. 194–95.

^ Levenson 2000, p. 84.

^ Schoch 2002, pp. 62–63.

^ Halio 1998, pp. 104–05.

^ Winter 1893, pp. 46–47, 57.

^ Holland 2002, pp. 202–03.

^ Levenson 2000, pp. 69–70.

^ Mosel 1978, p. 354.

^ Smallwood 2002, p. 102.

^ Halio 1998, pp. 105–07.

^ Smallwood 2002, p. 110.

^ Halio 1998, pp. 107–09.

^ a b c Levenson 2000, p. 87.

^ Holland 2001, p. 207.

^ The Times 1960.

^ Halio 1998, p. 110.

^ Halio 1998, pp. 110–12.

^ Pappe 1997, p. 63.

^ Quince 2000, pp. 121–25.

^ Munro 2016, pp. 68–69.

^ a b Howard 2000, p. 297.

^ Edgar 1982, p. 162.

^ Marks 1997.

^ Houlihan 2004.

^ Barranger 2004, p. 47.

^ The New York Times 1977.

^ Hetrick & Gans 2013.

^ Nestyev 1960, p. 261.

^ Sanders 2007, pp. 66–67.

^ Winn 2007.

^ Curnow 2010.

^ Buhler 2007, p. 156.

^ a b Sanders 2007, p. 187.

^ Meyer 1968, pp. 38.

^ Huebner 2002.

^ Holden 1993, p. 393.

^ Collins 1982, pp. 532–38.

^ Levi 2002.

^ Sanders 2007, pp. 43–45.

^ Stites 1995, p. 5.

^ Romeo and Juliet, I.v, II.ii, III.v, V.iii.

^ Sanders 2007, pp. 42–43.

^ Sanders 2007, p. 42.

^ Romeo and Juliet, I.0.6.

^ Sanders 2007, p. 20.

^ Sanders 2007, p. 187–88.

^ Swift 2009.

^ Buhler 2007, p. 157.

^ Sanders 2007, pp. 75–76.

^ Ehren 1999.

^ Arafay 2005, p. 186.

^ Review from NT: "Den fina recensionen i NT :) Skriver... - Johan Christher Schütz | Facebook". Archived from the original on 18 June 2020.

^ Levenson 2000, pp. 49–50.

^ Bloom 1998, p. 89.

^ Levenson 2000, p. 91.

^ OED: romeo.

^ Bly 2001, p. 52.

^ Muir 2005, pp. 352–62.

^ Fowler 1996, p. 111.

^ Romeo and Juliet, V.iii.

^ Fowler 1996, pp. 112–13.

^ Fowler 1996, p. 120.

^ Fowler 1996, pp. 126–27.

^ a b Orgel 2007, p. 91.

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^ a b Brode 2001, p. 42.

^ Rosenthal 2007, p. 225.

^ Brode 2001, p. 43.

^ Brode 2001, p. 48.

^ Tatspaugh 2000, p. 138.

^ Brode 2001, pp. 48–49.

^ Brode 2001, p. 51.

^ Brode 2001, pp. 51–25.

^ Rosenthal 2007, p. 218.

^ Brode 2001, pp. 51–53.

^ Brode 2001, p. 53.

^ Romeo and Juliet, III.v.

^ Rosenthal 2007, pp. 218–20.

^ Tatspaugh 2000, p. 140.

^ Tatspaugh 2000, p. 142.

^ Rosenthal 2007, pp. 215–16.

^ Symonds 2017, p. 172.

^ McKernan & Terris 1994, pp. 141–56.

^ Lanier 2007, p. 96.

^ McKernan & Terris 1994, p. 146.

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