Romeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet is not only one of the most popular of Shakespeare's plays, it is one of the most popular stories in the world. Yet while the play has rarely been off the stage, it has undergone radical transformations in performance. It has been abridged, rewritten, given a happy ending, reset in other times and places, and adapted into other media. While retaining its appeal as a definitive love story, Romeo and Juliet has been a dynamic and unstable performance text, endlessly reinvented to suit differing cultural needs. This edition provides a detailed, thorough and readable account of the play in production. The introduction examines shifts in interpretation, textual adaptations and staging innovations over four centuries of theatrical production. The commentary gives detailed examples of how different performers, from Henry Irving and Ellen Terry to Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, have brought life and death to Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers. |
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acting actress Adelaide Neilson Apothecary audience balcony scene BALTHASAR banished Barry BBC-TV beauty BENVOLIO Bogdanov character Cibber comic Covent Garden critics Cushman dagger David dead death doth Eliza O'Neill Elizabethan Ellen Terry Enter Exeunt Exit eyes Fanny Kemble farewell fight Forbes-Robertson FRIAR LAWRENCE Garrick Gentleman Gielgud give hand hast hath Helena Faucit Helena Modjeska Irving Irving's Italian John Julia Marlowe kiss LADY CAPULET laugh Leveaux look lovers Luhrmann film Mark Rylance married Marston Mary Anderson Mercutio Michael Boyd's Modjeska Montague Musicians Niamh Cusack night nineteenth-century Noble Nurse Nurse's NYSF Olivier Paris passion performance Peter Brook played Juliet Poel poison potion Prince promptbook Recent Actors role Romeo and Juliet Rosaline RSC production SAMPSON SERVINGMAN sexual Shakespeare speak speech St George's stage story Stratford Terry Hands's Theatre thee thou art tomb scene Tybalt Verona Victorian William young youth Zeffirelli film