Includes bibliographical references (pages 427-440) and index.

Cover; Title page; Author biography; Dedication; Table of Contents; List of illustrations; General editors' preface; Preface; Writing love; Love and literary form; Time's winged chariot; Earth tremors and thirteen-year-old children; Nashe's Have With You to Saffron Walden (1596) and Romeo and Juliet; A Midsummer Night's Dream; Lord Hunsdon's servants and Will Kemp at the Curtain (1596-7?); The dates of first performance and publication; Love's young sweet song: 'an excellent conceited tragedy'; 'All the daughters of my father's house'; Introduction; Sources.

Brooke's Tragical History of Romeus and JulietTybalt, Mercutio and Paris; Performing love; From London (c. 1596) and Cambridge (c. 1598-1601) to Douai (1694-5); From Garrick (1748) to Berlioz (1839) and Cushman (1845); From Gounod (1867) and Tchaikovsky (1870/80) to Gielgud and Prokofiev (1935); From West Side Story (1957) to Old Pronunciation Shakespeare (2004); The age of Zeffirelli (1960-8); Bogdanov and Luhrmann: from Alfa Romeo to Clockwork Orange Shakespeare and beyond (1986- ); The texts: Q1 (1597) and Q2 (1599); Nurse's italics and Capulet's Wife's speech prefixes; Editorial procedures.

Q1's stage directions: a record of performance or 'literary' ornaments?From Q1 to Q2; Second thoughts: Queen Mab and others; Shakespeare's handwriting and what it has left us; ROMEO AND JULIET; Scene 1.2; Scene 1.1; The Prologue; Scene 1.5; Scene 1.4; Scene 1.3; Scene 2.2; Scene 2.1; Scene 2.0; Scene 2.4; Scene 2.3; Scene 2.6; Scene 2.5; Scene 3.2; Scene 3.1; Scene 3.5; Scene 3.4; Scene 3.3; Scene 4.2; Scene 4.1; Scene 4.5; Scene 4.4; Scene 4.3; Scene 5.3; Scene 5.2; Scene 5.1; 1 Q1 and Q4 readings; Appendices; 2 Q1 Romeo and Juliet; 3 Rhyme; 4 Casting and doubling.

Abbreviations and referencesAbbreviations used in notes; Works by and partly by Shakespeare; Editions of Shakespeare collated; Other works cited or used; eCopyright.

This major new edition of Shakespeare's greatest tragedy of love argues that that play is ultimately Juliet's. The play text is expertly edited and the on-page commentary notes discuss issues of staging, theme, meaning and Shakespeare's use of his sources to give the reader deep and engaging insights into the play.
The richly illustrated introduction looks at the play's exceptionally beautiful and complex language and focuses on the figure of Juliet as being at its centre. Rene Weis discusses the play's critical, stage and film history, including West Side Story and Baz Luhrmann's seminal film Romeo + Juliet. An authoritative edition from a leading scholar giving the reader a penetrating and wide-ranging insight into this ever popular play.

Print version record.