Verona, Italy. 14th Century.

ROMEO
A young man who is heir to house Montague. Romeo is handsome, athletic and intelligent. He is also sensitive and immature. He suffers from melancholy over love.

JULIET
Daughter of house Capulet, and a beautiful young girl. She begins as a naive child, falls in love with Romeo and shows amazing courage and passion against nearly insurmountable odds.

NURSE
Juliet’s nurse, has cared for her, her entire life. She is a vulgar, long winded and sentimental character providing comic relief with frequent inappropriate remarks.

FRIAR LAWRENCE
A mature Franciscan friar. Friend to both Romeo and Juliet. He is civic minded proponent of moderation who is also an herbalist.

LORD AND LADY MONTAGUE
Romeo’s parents and bitter enemies of the Capulets. Lord Montague is greatly concerned with Romeo’s melancholy while Lady Montague Romeos deeply loves her only son, she is also dutiful and practical.

LORD AND LADY CAPULET
The parents of Juliet and enemies of the Montagues. Although Lord Capulet loves his daughter, he flies into fits of rage when his desires are not followed. Whereas Lady Capulet is eager to see Juliet make and advantages marriage, but she is an ineffectual mother relying on the nurse for moral and pragmatic support.

BENVOLIO
Montague’s nephew and Romeo’s cousin. He is Romeo’s thoughtful best friend who makes a sincere effort to diffuse violence.

MERCUTIO
Kinsman to the prince and Romeo’s close friend. He has an abundance of imagination, wit and a biting fervor. He can be quite hot headed and dislikes those who are pretentious.

TYBALT
A Capulet and Juliet’s cousin. He is vain, fashionable and prone to aggressive violence. An excellent swordsman who despises the Montagues.

PARIS
A kinsman of the prince and handsome suiter of Juliet. Once engaged he becomes presumptuous towards Juliet.

PRINCESS ESCALUS
The ruler of Verona. She is concerned about maintaining the public peace at all costs. She is the ultimate power.

William Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564, though his birthday is traditionally celebrated on April 23. Shakespeare occupies a position unique in world literature. Other poets, such as Homer and Dante, and novelists, such as Leo Tolstoy and Charles Dickens, have transcended national barriers, but no writer’s living reputation can compare to that of Shakespeare, whose plays, written in the late 16th and early 17th centuries for a small repertory theatre, are now performed and read more often and in more countries than ever before. The prophecy of his great contemporary, the poet and dramatist Ben Jonson, that Shakespeare “was not of an age, but for all time,” has been fulfilled.

In his lifetime, Shakespeare wrote 38 plays and 154 sonnets. Romeo and Juliet was the 12th play Shakespeare wrote and was written between 1594-1596. As the title page of the play’s 1597 edition tells us, Romeo and Juliet was a popular success in its day: ‘…it hath been often (with great applause) plaid publiquely’. Shakespeare designed it to be played in daylight on the simple thrust stage of an Elizabethan playhouse, where the rear balcony provided Juliet’s bedroom window and a trapdoor in the stage was her tomb. No scenery and few props allowed the action to move swiftly and the audience to focus on the language. Music and costume added to the effect. Shakespeare wrote his plays with the strengths and talents of his fellow players in mind. His gifted boy players took the female roles and Shakespeare must have had great faith in the youth playing the important role of Juliet. We know that Peter, the Nurse’s comic servant, was played by the popular comedian Will Kemp and the male tragic lead must have been played by the expert wielder of both sword and poetry, Richard Burbage.

Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616. Seven years after he died, a collection of Shakespeare’s writing was published. This was by far the most complete version of his work. It was compiled by his friends John Heminge and Henry Condell. It contained 36 plays, including 18 never before printed. A few are missing, including Cardenio. Many of them had appeared as quartos: flimsy books made from folded paper, which the First Folio described as “stol’n and surreptitious copies.” This was possibly to encourage purchase of the collected volume. Around 750 copies were printed of which 233 are known to have survived. In 2006 a copy of the First Folio sold for £2.8m, or $3,622,654. In 1769, Shakespeare’s life was celebrated in a jubilee organized by actor David Garrick. It was a hugely anticipated event, with the papers reporting all aspects of it during the preparation. Shakespeare had become famous, though no Shakespeare plays were performed at the Jubilee due to rain.

Today, Shakespeare is regarded as England’s national playwright. The prestige of his plays and casting of star actors reflects this. But Shakespeare may have been forgotten if his work hadn’t been compiled by two fellow actors and friends, or if Garrick hadn’t produced the Shakespeare Jubilee. Once in the public consciousness, the universal appeal of Shakespeare’s works ensured they would be remembered. Today they hold vast cultural and financial value and his plays and sonnets are still enjoyed throughout the world.