Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited

"For never was a story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo." —ROMEO AND JULIET(5.3.320) Though the tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet is a perennial favorite, the world around the play has changed in the four centuries since it was first performed. Shifting attitudes about taboo love and marriage, gender roles, and even guns and street violence inform the way we read or see the play today. Rebecca Sheir, host of our Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series, talks with theater scholars and artists about how ROMEO AND JULIET has been cut and molded to fit certain cultural expectations in different time periods. Among those featured in this podcast: - Libby Appel is the former director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. - Joe Calarco is the adaptor and original director of Shakespeare’s R&J. - Linda Charnes is professor of English at Indiana University, Bloomington. - Michael Kahn is artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC. - Peggy O'Brien is director of education