Let's check in with our lovesick titular hero, his sensible cousin Benvolio, and his moderately unhinged friend, Mercutio.
I've always suspected that if Romeo hadn't interrupted Mercutio, he'd still be riffing on Queen Mab to this day.
Romeo and Juliet: Act 1, Scene 3
OK, we've met Romeo, the world's most self-indulgent superficial romantic. Let's now meet Juliet!
Confession time: I know she's quite a popular character, but Juliet's nurse has always pissed me off a bit.
Romeo and Juliet: Act 1, Scene 2
OK, let's get back to A Stick Figure Romeo & Juliet!
"What could possibly go wrong?" is a recurring theme in this play. And in most Shakespeare plays, to be honest. And in life, come to think of it.
My new life motto is "What could possibly go wrong?"
Tune in again next week, when we meet the other title character!
Romeo and Juliet
Dramatis Personae | Prologue | 1.1a | 1.1b | 1.1c | 1.2
Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Shakespearean Love)
It's Valentine's Day! Let's dust off one of Cole Porter's classic love songs and give it a Shakespearean twist.
If you're not familiar with the original song, here's another Shakespearean version of it, courtesy of the RSC Shakespeare Revue:
To be honest, I was trying to find a different song to use, because they did such a good job with this one and I didn't want to retread the ground, but it was just TOO MUCH FUN not to...
Happy Valentine's Day! (Or, if you prefer, Happy Singles Appreciation Day!)
Romeo and Juliet: Act 1, Scene 1 (part 3)
Let's meet one half of our titular duo...
To be absolutely fair to Romeo, most of the people in this play speak in hyperbolic rhyming couplets. That doesn't make him any less self-indulgent, however...
Romeo and Juliet
Dramatis Personae | Prologue | 1.1a | 1.1b | 1.1c
Romeo and Juliet: Act 1, Scene 1 (part 2)
When we last left the cast of Romeo and Juliet, they were engaged in a mass brawl in the marketplace. As usual.
Benvolio is totally underrated, by the way. He's one of the few truly sensible people in the entire play.
Romeo and Juliet
Dramatis Personae | Prologue | 1.1a | 1.1b
Romeo and Juliet: Act 1, Scene 1 (part 1)
Let us set the scene... It is a quiet day in Verona's main marketplace, when all of a sudden various young men wearing conspicuously different-colored clothing arrive...
It's a pity that Sampson and Gregory's banter is often heavily cut down in performance, as it's one of the more sustained examples of that classical Shakespearean technique I like to call "dick jokes".
It's then immediately followed by a mass brawl precipitated by one guy biting his thumb (an offensive gesture) at another guy.
And people say Shakespeare is boring...
Romeo and Juliet
Dramatis Personae | Prologue | 1.1a
Romeo and Juliet: Prologue
Our scene-by-scene journey through Romeo and Juliet continues today with a look at one of the most famous prologues in literature:
SPOILERS, man! SPOILERS.
Romeo and Juliet
Dramatis Personae | Prologue