Oxford School Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet

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Act 2, scene 5 Juliet waits impatiently for the Nurse to return. Her impatience grows when the Nurse, having returned, is slow to deliver Romeo’s message. Finally Juliet learns that if she wants to marry Romeo, she need only go to Friar Lawrence’s cell that afternoon. The introduction examines in particular the play's performance history and presents a new interpretation that veers away from its perception as a core text of heterosexual love The play begins with a brawl before introducing us to Romeo and his best mates, Mercutio and Benvolio. Cyd Cowley’s performance as Romeo starts with him as a doe-eyed, slightly melodramatic romantic. Both the character and Cowley’s performance grew in strength and depth over the course of the night as Romeo grappled with heavier and heavier emotions.

Edited by Hannah August, Senior Lecturer, Massey University, Francis X. Conor, Associate Professor of English, Wichita State University, and Emma Smith, Professor of Shakespeare Studies, University of Oxford Act 2, scene 6 Juliet meets Romeo at Friar Lawrence’s cell. After expressing their mutual love, they exit with the Friar to be married. Act 1, scene 3 Lady Capulet informs Juliet of Paris’s marriage proposal and praises him extravagantly. Juliet says that she has not even dreamed of marrying, but that she will consider Paris as a possible husband if her parents wish her to. Shakespeare's first romantic tragedy, probably written about 1595 and first printed in a ‘bad’ quarto in 1597; a good quarto (1599) reappeared in the First Folio of 1623. The play is based on Arthur Brooke's poem The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet (1562), a translation from the French of Bandello's Novelle.

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Hannah August is Senior Lecturer at Massey University in New Zealand. She holds a UPhD and MA from King's College London and undergraduate degrees from the Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Otago in New Zealand. She is the I would guess that most of the young audience were there because they’ve been studying the play and the 25 or so 11-year-olds on a primary school trip were clearly loving watching familiar scenes unfold in front of them. The actors were mostly loving bringing it to life for them too, especially Mercutio (Billy Morton) whose laddish innuendo was pitched just right to set them giggling. But the technical challenges to actors of voice production became very clear when heavy rain after the interval interrupted the performance half way through Act 3 and we all decamped to the Baptist Church. It must be hard to switch mid-performance from trying to project a voice that was disappearing into the open air to needing to slow down because sounds are bouncing off the church walls. All credit to the actors for managing that transition as well as they did, and for replaying the end of scene 4 to remind us where we were.

Its universal themes, vibrant characters, and poetic language continue to engage audiences, captivating both the young and the young-at-heart,” director Alex Nicholls explains. The New Oxford Shakespeare edition of Romeo and Juliet provides a fresh and authoritative introduction to one of Shakespeare's most famous tragedies.Encourage instant comprehension with clear notes and commentaries giving detailed explanations of difficult words and passages Act 4, scene 5 The Nurse finds Juliet in the deathlike trance caused by the Friar’s potion and announces Juliet’s death. Juliet’s parents and Paris join the Nurse in lamentation. Friar Lawrence interrupts them and begins to arrange Juliet’s funeral. The scene closes with an exchange of wordplay between Capulet’s servant Peter and Paris’s musicians.

A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface.Act 2, scene 3 Determined to marry Juliet, Romeo hurries to Friar Lawrence. The Friar agrees to marry them, expressing the hope that the marriage may end the feud between their families. A friar secretly marries them, hoping to end the feud. Romeo and his companions almost immediately encounter Juliet’s cousin Tybalt, who challenges Romeo. When Romeo refuses to fight, Romeo’s friend Mercutio accepts the challenge and is killed. Romeo then kills Tybalt and is banished. He spends that night with Juliet and then leaves for Mantua. Alex Nicholls, the director, said: “It’s been a thrill to work with our highly talented and diverse cast who have completely embraced Shakespeare’s great love story, beautiful language and really breathe new life into this beloved tale. Come and see them in action!”