Welcome back Shakespeare fans.

Last week we finished Romeo and Juliet. I really enjoyed getting to read it again, as an adult. I read along while listening to a performance of the play – the Naxos Audiobooks version staring Michael Sheen and Kate Beckinsale. Overall, I thought the performance was good and added a lot to my reading, especially in terms of the context behind the jokes. I must admit that I haven’t seen a lot of Romeo and Juliet adaptations (yet). I hope to do so, going forward.

After doing some research, I’ve realised that there are a lot of different adaptations of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ around.

There are an abundance of stage productions of the play. There are many highly acclaimed theatre companies that focus on Shakespeare’s works. One of the most well-known is the Royal Shakespeare Company, who operate from the UK. They have put on so many productions that it would be hard for me to do a full list of them. Some of them sound great, like the Trevor Nunn 1976 production, staring Ian McKellen or the Michael Bogdanov 1986 one, featuring Sean Bean as Romeo. For more insight into the Royal Shakespeare Company’s productions, click here. Their website is amazing and shows how much detail goes into each production. They talk about everything, even clothing choices made for the actors and set design so it is definitely worth the read if you have the time.

‘Romeo and Juliet’ has also been made into several movies, again as either straight up adaptations or more loosely inspired productions. In terms direct adaptations, productions like the 1968 movie directed by Franco Zeffirelli are highly rated and true to the source material. Looser adaptations also exist. West Side Story is probably one of the most famous of these, with not one but two versions of the movie available (the classic from 1961 and the remake from 2021). ‘Romeo and Juliet’ has also inspired a zombie movie: ‘Warm Bodies’, which sounds very cool. For a fuller list of movie adaptations, click here. If you want to check out some tv shows that are also inspired by 'Romeo and Juliet', click here.

​

This week's discussion is more relaxed than other weeks. If you have any opinions about the adaptations I've mentioned here, please tell us about it in the comments.

Here are some other prompts:

• Have you been to see a performance live or have watched a movie that you really think captures the essence of the play?
• Do you have a favourite type of adaptation that you think suits the play best?
• What actors/actresses do you think played Romeo and Juliet well? Conversely, was there anyone who ruined an adaptation for you with a poor performance?
• For those of you who like modern books as well, have you read any Romeo and Juliet inspired works/retellings that you want to tell us about?
• Are there any adaptations that you have watched that you wouldn’t recommend?

Next week we will be discussing Acts 1 and 2 of our March play: Hamlet