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Romeo and Juliet
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The hero and heroine of William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet are the archetypes of “star-crossed” lovers in Western literature. Their noble families are bitter enemies, which leads the young pair to their tragic fates.
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Romeo and Juliet belongs to a tradition of tragic romances stretching back to Ancient Greece. Its plot is based on an Italian tale, translated into verse as Romeus and Juliet by Arthur Brooke in 1562, and retold in prose in Palace of Pleasure by William Painter in 1582. Brooke and Painter were Shakespeare's chief sources of inspiration for Romeo and Juliet. He borrowed heavily from both, but developed minor characters, particularly Mercutio and Paris, in order to expand the plot. The play was probably written around 1595–1596, and first published as a quarto in 1597. The text was of poor quality, and later editions corrected it, bringing it more in line with Shakespeare's original text.
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In this scene Romeo and Juliet meet. Note that in spite of its title, this play has very few scenes in which both lovers are present. The others are the balcony scene (2.2), the short wedding scene (2.6) and the opening of Act 3, Scene 5. The lovers are both on stage in Act 5, Scene 3 - but Romeo kills himself before Juliet wakes.
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Romeo stands next to Juliet and marvels at how beautiful she is, even in death. He kisses her for the last time, drinks his poison, and dies by his wife’s side. Meanwhile, Friar Lawrence arrives and asks Balthasar to enter the tomb with him. Balthasar declines and Friar Lawrence enters alone. He sees that Paris is dead, as is Romeo. To Friar Lawrence’s horror, he can hear people approaching and Juliet awakens.
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Romeo arrives with Balthasar with a pickaxe and crowbar. He gives a letter to B. to be given to his father in the morning. He claims to be there to take a ring from her, and savagely threatens to tear B. apart if he interferes with his actions: "I will tear thee joint by joint/And strew this hungry churchyard with thy limbs./The time and my intents are savage-wild,/More fierce and more inexorable far/Than empty tigers or the roaring sea." Balthasar departs but decides to hide nearby, fearing Romeo's intentions.
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Peter Martins's "Romeo and Juliet" will not be a surprise to anyone familiar with his productions of "The Sleeping Beauty" and "Swan Lake." Here, Mr. Martins has pared down pantomime as much as he can, and substituted classical vocabulary. He has reduced the two intermissions to one. And as he did for "Swan Lake," he's employed Danish artist Per Kirkeby for sets and costumes.
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