Romeo and Juliet

About Romeo and Juliet

We would give this Things to Understand guide a “spoiler alert” but, well… the play is 400 years old! If you have any questions about the content of the story, a great place to start would be SparkNotes, a general summary, or reading through the play, all of which are available with a quick Google search. There is some mild language throughout the play (e.g., “the damned in hell do say…” and phrases like that). Our production of this classic play is a shortened, 5-person version that is about 1 hour long, so the play has been streamlined down to its core storyline, with actors playing multiple parts throughout.

This play is a great way to spark conversations about so many topics that are still relevant to us today. From the themes of hate and love, to mental health, to the societal pressures our young protagonists face, to what makes a healthy (or unhealthy) relationship, there are lots of jumping off points for you to start discussions with your family or class. For more in-depth analyses and activities that you can use, we recommend downloading our Educational Play Guide for the show HERE.

Romance plays a large part in the story of Romeo and Juliet. As such there is lots of flirting, several on-stage kisses, and Romeo and Juliet hastily decide to get married over the course of the play. It is important to note that while this is a love story, it’s not a particularly healthy love story. Both our main characters constantly make rash decisions, fall in and out of love very quickly, and become very codependent very fast. Juliet is also under pressure from her family to marry a man they have picked for her, and there is a scene towards the end of the play where her father gets very angry with her and yells at her after her refusal to marry that person that could be distressing for some viewers. We hope you’ll take the opportunity while watching this play to discuss with your family or class what healthy relationships do like, whether they are romantic, platonic, or familial.

It is important to remember that the story of Romeo and Juliet is a Tragedy. Like many other Shakespearean tragedies, many people die in the end and our story comes to its conclusion in sorrow. The hate both the Capulet and Montague families spew for one another leads to disastrous consequences. In particular, two separate characters are slain during sword fights on stage. All stage combat you see was carefully choreographed and rehearsed multiple times before filming to make sure it was 100% believable for the audience yet 110% safe for the actors on stage. Additionally, all deaths are portrayed non-graphically and we do not use fake blood in this production.

On the very off chance that someone is not familiar with how this story ends, we want to put a strong content warning for self-harm and suicidal ideation for the end of this play. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy because, in the end, both protagonists choose to die by suicide rather than live without the other. While we might not consider mental health to be one of the show’s central topics, it is important to acknowledge that young people in the 1500s and in 2021 alike face a lot of challenges. We encourage you to visit the youth specific resources provided by the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/help-yourself/youth/ if you or someone you know needs support.

We love this story because it gives us a way to make the work of Shakespeare accessible and exciting for our younger audiences. It’s been called “the greatest love story ever told,” and while that may not be entirely accurate, there’s no doubt that Romeo and Juliet is a classic story that we’re still talking about and telling hundreds of years after it was written. It’s a story focused on the issues of young people, and while some things have changed since Shakespeare’s time, others are still very relevant today. We love this story because it is still speaking to us, making us laugh, making us cry, and making us think – even in 2021.