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Table of Contents
Teacher Curriculum
Welcome to the
Shakespeare Theatre Company’s
production of
Page Number
About the Play
Synopsis of Romeo and Juliet…....……..…..2
The Elizabethan Stage: The Tradition of
All-Male Casts.………………………....3
An Interview with Director David Muse.…....4
Family Feud: Montagues vs. Capulets and
Who’s Who……………………...…..….5
Shakespeare’s Italy.………….………..……..6
Romeo and Juliet
by William Shakespeare!
This season, the Shakespeare Theatre
Company presents seven plays by William
Shakespeare and other classic playwrights.
Consistent with the Shakespeare Theatre
Company's central mission to be the leading
force in producing and preserving the highest
quality classic theatre, the Education
Department challenges learners of all ages
to explore the ideas, emotions and principles
contained in classic texts and to discover the
connection between classic theatre and our
modern perceptions. We hope that this First
Folio Teacher Curriculum Guide will prove
useful as you prepare to bring your students
to the theatre!
Classroom Connections
Before and After the Performance………….7
Resources and Standards of Learning
Resource List and Standards of Learning…8
Theatre Etiquette……………………………..9
The First Folio Teacher Curriculum Guide for
Romeo and Juliet was developed by the
Shakespeare Theatre Company Education
Department and compiled and edited by
Caroline Alexander. “Shakespeare’s Italy”
was written by Wendy Leibowitz. Cover
photo of James Davis by Scott Suchman.
For the 2008-09 season, the Education
Department will publish First Folio Teacher
Curriculum Guides for our productions of
Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night and Ion.
First Folio Guides provide information and
activities to help students form a personal
connection to the play before attending the
production. First Folio Guides include
approaches to explore the plays and
productions in the classroom before and after
the performance.
For articles and information about
Shakespeare’s life and world,
please visit our website,,
to download the file
“On Shakespeare.”
First Folio Guides are designed as a
resource both for teachers and students. We
encourage you to photocopy articles you find
helpful and distribute them to your students
as supplemental reading.
If you would like more information on how
you can participate in other Shakespeare
Theatre Company programs, please call
the Education Hotline at 202.547.5688
or visit our website,
Enjoy the show!
Synopsis of
A brawl breaks out in the streets of Verona
between the feuding houses of Montague and
Capulet. The Prince breaks up the fight,
announcing that he will punish another such
disturbance with death. Romeo, Lord
Montague’s love-sick son, arrives to tell his
cousin Benvolio of his infatuation for the
beautiful Rosaline.
will put her body into the Capulet tomb. In the
meantime, Friar Lawrence will send word to
Romeo to return and take Juliet away.
Lord Capulet discusses a marriage between his
young daughter Juliet and a gentleman named
Paris. Capulet invites Paris to a party he is
throwing that evening and sends his servant
with a list of guests to invite. The illiterate
servant asks Romeo for help reading the list,
and Romeo decides to attend the party in
disguise when he learns that Rosaline will be
there. When he arrives, however, Romeo sees
Juliet and falls in love with her. Only later do
they learn that they are the children of rival
Romeo, now in exile in Mantua, hears of Juliet’s
death but does not receive the Friar’s letter
detailing the plot. Romeo buys a deadly poison
and arrives at Juliet’s tomb, where he finds Paris
mourning her loss. Paris provokes Romeo and
dies in the ensuing fight. Romeo goes to Juliet’s
side, drinks the poison and dies. Juliet wakes to
find Romeo dead beside her and refuses a
horrified Friar Lawrence’s offer of escape. The
Friar flees as Juliet stabs herself with Romeo’s
The next morning, the nurse finds Juliet’s
seemingly lifeless body. The guests arriving for
Juliet’s marriage to Paris instead mourn her
death as she is prepared for burial.
After discovering the bodies, Capulet and
Montague agree to end their bloody feud and
erect statues in honor of their children.
On the way home, Romeo slips away from his
friends to search for Juliet. When Juliet comes to
her window, she and Romeo confess their love
for each other and make plans for a secret
marriage. Romeo begs his confidant Friar
Lawrence to perform the ceremony, and the
Friar agrees in the hope of unifying the families.
After marrying, Romeo and Juliet depart
separately to conceal their union. On Romeo’s
way home, Juliet’s cousin Tybalt challenges him
to a duel; Romeo refuses to fight but cannot yet
tell Tybalt why. Romeo’s friend Mercutio takes
Tybalt’s challenge, and when Romeo tries to
step between them, Tybalt fatally wounds
Mercutio. Enraged, Romeo kills Tybalt. Romeo
flees the scene in horror, only to be banished by
the Prince in absentia. Juliet’s nurse tells her of
Tybalt’s death and Romeo’s banishment but
agrees to facilitate a meeting for the newlyweds
that night.
After spending the night together, Romeo and
Juliet part. Because of Tybalt’s sudden death,
Juliet’s parents hasten her marriage to Paris.
Distraught, she hatches a frantic plan with Friar
Lawrence to stop her marriage to Paris. The
Friar gives Juliet a potion that will put her into a
death-like sleep. Thinking her dead, her family
Jennifer Ikeda as Juliet and Paul Whitthorne as
Romeo in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s
2002 production of Romeo and Juliet, directed by
Rachel Kavanaugh. Photo by Carol Rosegg.
The Elizabethan Stage:
The Tradition of AllAll-Male Casts
David Muse’s production of Romeo and Juliet will
present one of the world’s greatest love stories with
a theatrical twist: an all-male cast. Having an allmale cast is a traditional way of performing the play.
During Shakespeare’s lifetime women were not
allowed onstage, which meant that all of the female
roles were played by boys and possibly, in the cases
of older female roles, men. The tradition of boys
playing female roles was readily accepted by
Elizabethan audiences. Since women had never
been allowed onstage, Elizabethan audiences would
have expected Juliet to be played by a boy. They
wouldn’t have found it shocking or distracting,
although it was a source of concern for Puritans who
questioned the morality of the theatre as a whole.
Boy actors were generally apprenticed to older
actors in the cast, which allowed them to learn the
craft and business of acting. They performed female
roles until they were no longer able to believably
portray women, namely once their voices broke and
their physical appearances became more
distinctively masculine (for example, when they
began to get facial hair). It is likely that adult male
actors may have played older female roles (such as
the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet) but no one knows for
certain. Shakespeare even poked fun at the practice
of boys playing women, as he does in Hamlet’s
teasing of a young actor whom he hasn’t seen for a
while by worrying that his voice has broken: “Pray
God your voice like a piece of uncurrent gold be not
cracked within the ring.” Another famous
reference appears at the end of Antony and
Cleopatra, during which Cleopatra realizes that she
will be portrayed by a “squeaking” boy when her
story is dramatized (which would have reminded the
audience that the actor speaking the line was indeed
a boy).
James Davis as Juliet in the Shakespeare Theatre
Company’s production of Romeo and Juliet, directed by David Muse. Photo by Scott Suchman.
Charlotte Cushman played Romeo to great
critical acclaim opposite her sister Susan’s Juliet.
The tradition of all-male casting continues as
directors seek to explore all aspects of
Shakespeare’s language and period practices. In
recent years, several noteworthy all-male
productions of Shakespeare’s work have been
produced in the United States and abroad,
including director Joe Calarco’s four-person
adaptation, Shakespeare’s R&J. In 1997,
England’s Propeller Company, led by Artistic
Director Edward Hall, was founded. Propeller is
a theatre company devoted to all-male
productions of Shakespeare’s plays.
Most of Shakespeare’s plays include far more male
roles than female roles, which is probably the result
of a combination of factors. The fact that female
roles were played by boy actors doubtless
influenced Shakespeare’s decisions about
characters—if he had a great boy actor, it may have
led him to create some of his more substantial
female roles like Viola in Twelfth Night, Rosalind in
As You Like It, and, as mentioned earlier, Cleopatra.
Women didn’t begin appearing onstage until 1660,
when King Charles II allowed the practice.
1. What was a day in the life of an Elizabethan
boy actor like? Do some research (using at least
one online and one print resource—see
“Suggested Resources” for ideas) and present
your findings in an essay.
2. What does the term “theatricality” mean?
What elements of theatre (lighting, costumes,
sound, etc.) does it relate to? How does
theatricality influence a director’s decisions about
how to present a play? For example, how is
David Muse’s concept for Romeo and Juliet
In an interesting reversal of the all-male cast idea,
the role of Romeo was frequently played by women
in the 19th century. In 1845, American actress
An Interview with Director David Muse
Romeo and Juliet director David Muse will stage Shakespeare’s great love story as
Shakespeare himself first saw it: with an all-male cast. STC Literary Associate Akiva Fox
sat down with him to talk about this daring and provocative approach to a classic.
Akiva Fox: What led to your decision to direct
Romeo and Juliet with an all-male cast?
juxtaposed against that are Romeo and Juliet,
who behave in ways that are a little atypical for
people of their gender in that world. Also, when
David Muse: Of all the plays
both of these roles are played by
Shakespeare wrote, Romeo and
men, a lot of the performance of
Juliet seems to me the one
their love needs to live in the
that’s most stuck in our heads.
language that they speak. And
It’s the one we can quote the
Shakespeare was a writer of
most lines from, and it’s been
gorgeous poetry, but the reason
done in stunning fashion in
that the love poetry in this play is
iconic film and stage versions.
so glorious is in part because
So the all-male convention is in
Shakespeare knew that two
part an attempt to make the play
young men would be performing
fresh and surprising for me and
it. You couldn’t just count on two
for our audiences. Also, some of
actors looking at each other and
the most influential productions
realistically being in love in a
of Shakespeare I have seen
way that the audience was going
have been all-male.
to buy. And so the actors need
James Davis as Juliet in the Shakespeare Theatre to jump into the language and
AF: What struck you as the efmake its power convince us of
Company’s production of Romeo and Juliet, difect of an all-male cast in those rected by David Muse. Photo by Scott Suchman.
the power of this love.
AF: Do you have anything to say to people who
DM: The production immediately becomes an
might be wary about an all-male Romeo and
event that has to do with performance and
theatricality, the acknowledgment on the part of
DM: Doing a production this way raises a lot of
the actors and the audience that this is a play that
we’re watching. In a way, it unlocks this world of
eyebrows. But having seen a number of very
imaginative collaboration between the audience
successful all-male productions, I can say that it’s
and the actors.
less of a big deal than you think it is. You sit down
in the theatre, and you give over to it. It’s also odd
AF: How do you think the all-male convention
to me that this feels to people like such an
illuminates Romeo and Juliet?
innovative and risky decision, because in a way
it’s the most traditional way to do this play. It is at
DM: This is a play that’s very centered on love,
the same time something that we’ve never seen
when gender matters so much. Now, I’m not doing
before, but also returning the play to the
this because I’m interested in putting a gay male
conditions under which it was created.
relationship on the stage, but I do think that
Shakespeare was pushing some interesting
boundaries when it came to gender in Elizabethan
Glossary Exercise
England. This play is set in a very consciously
Create a glossary of vocabulary words found in David
constructed masculine world, and a lot of what
Muse’s interview. Use a dictionary to look up words you
propels the grudge and the violence between
don’t know. Some words to start with: iconic, bravado,
these two families is masculine bravado. And
convention, theatricality and juxtapose.
Family Feud: Montagues vs. Capulets
A feud is an ongoing cycle of violence between two groups of people that continues because of acts of
retaliation and vengeance. In order for a feud to end completely, both sides must agree to stop the violence. The
desire to avoid appearing weak or shameful kept most ancient feuds, like the one featured in Romeo and Juliet,
going strong. Prince Escalus, who threatens both the Capulets and the Montagues with death at the beginning of
the play (“If ever you disturb our streets again, / Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace”), is not in a position
to end the feud because, although it disrupts the life of his city, he is not a member of either opposing family. We
know few details about this particular feud, except that it is “ancient” and that both families are of similar social
status (“both alike in dignity”).
An interesting aspect of the Montague-Capulet feud is the way that it extends all the way down to the servants of
the two houses. The action of the play begins with a brawl between Gregory and Sampson, servingmen of the
Capulets, and Abram, a Montague servingman. The fierce loyalty of servants to masters gives us an indication
of how strongly servants were linked to the families they worked for in this society.
The play’s feud ends only with the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, making it easy to wonder whether or not the feud
could have been ended with their marriage. Capulet and Montague exchange words that signal the peaceful end
of the feud, brought about by their shared grief at the deaths of their children: “O brother Montague, give me thy
hand,” a statement that would have been unthinkable at the beginning of the play.
Can you think of any examples of modern-day feuds similar to the one found in Romeo and Juliet? How does
the feud impact the entire city of Verona, including those citizens not directly involved in it? Based on evidence
from the text, do you think that the feud could have ended peacefully if Romeo and Juliet were to come forward
with their proposed marriage? Why or why not? Look closely at act 1, scene 5 and analyze Capulet’s response
to Tybalt when he informs him that Romeo is at the banquet. How does he respond? Who wants Romeo out? In
+ Juliet, how is the feud presented? Compare and contrast the different ways in which these directors represent
the feud. What weapons do they use? What is the setting of the banquet? How does the crowd respond?
Who’s Who
Montague and Lady
Romeo’s Parents
Capulet and Lady
Juliet’s Parents
Romeo’s cousin
Juliet’s cousin
Abram and Balthazar,
Sampson and Gregory,
Joseph Marcell as Friar Laurence in the Shakespeare Theatre
Company’s 2002 production of Romeo and Juliet, directed by
Rachel Kavanaugh. Photo by Carol Rosegg.
Friar Lawrence
Prince Escalus
Juliet’s Suitor,
Kinsman to the Prince
Romeo’s friend and
kinsman to the Prince
Shakespeare’s Italy:
English Stereotypes of Italy and Italians
taly and Italians dominate so many of
Shakespeare’s plays that it’s clear that
Shakespeare, together with many English
people in his day, loved Italy—or what they
thought was Italy. Some scholars think that Italy
represented everything that England was not: a
warm, easygoing place where discipline was lax
and people ate, drank and were merry all day.
Italy, then, was a stage where anything could
as Romeo’s sympathetic advisor. It is Friar
Lawrence who secretly marries Romeo and Juliet
and tries to help them stay together. The
Franciscan order of monks emphasizes service in
the community and still exists today.
Shakespeare makes great use of Italian
architecture in his plays and other works. He set
some of his plays in walled cities, within which
characters assume different identities, or from
which someone could be banished. Intimate
scenes frequently take place in lush gardens that
allow for privacy. Marketplaces and large, open
piazzas were natural gathering places where
people could gather to gossip about a character’s
reputation, or to discuss the latest events.
More than a dozen of Shakespeare’s 37 plays take
place in Italy: All's Well that Ends Well, Antony
and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Cymbeline, Julius
Caesar, The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado about
Nothing, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of
the Shrew, Titus Andronicus, The Two Gentlemen
of Verona and The Winter's Tale. Some scholars
believe that Shakespeare may have visited Italy in
1591, when the plague swept through London. The
Black Death was so terrible that theatres were
ordered closed to stop the spread of the disease.
While some members of Shakespeare’s acting
company went to Italy, there is no firm evidence
that Shakespeare himself ever did. These plays,
however, are full of vivid detail and knowledge of
Italian cities, names and customs, as if written by
one who had spent a great deal of time there.
As in Shakespeare’s England, Italian ports and
cities attracted travelers from around the world,
and many people were drawn to the great cities to
seek their fortunes, a spouse, money or higher
In addition to a fascination with Italy, there was
another good reason for Shakespeare to set his
plays abroad. Censorship was strong in England
during his lifetime and theatres whose works
offended the queen could be shut down. It was
safer to set the plays in Italy—a symbol to the English
of corruption and lost ancient glory—than to set
them in England. Audiences could both admire
Italy’s classical foundations, its economic
energy and cultural richness, and also hold the
people in contempt for their hypocritical behaviors.
By setting his plays abroad, Shakespeare could
write more freely about what he thought of class
differences, hypocrisy, religion and politics in his
own country since his barbs were not directly
aimed at his country or queen. By setting his plays
in a very different country, Shakespeare gave his
audience distance, both literally and figuratively, to
reflect on its own society’s ills.
Much of what English people “knew” about Italy
was based on exaggerated travelers’ tales and
stories. Many people from England traveled to Italy
to see the ruins of ancient Rome and to enjoy
warm weather and good food and wine. The
English saw the Italian personality as fiery,
passionate and temperamental. So even if
Shakespeare never left his home country, Italian
characters, culture and literature were a strong
presence in the literature and drama of the day.
Additionally, Italy was a Catholic country during
Shakespeare’s lifetime, while England was a
Protestant nation. Queen Elizabeth I reinstated
Protestantism as the national religion when she
took the throne in 1558 (it had been a Catholic
country under her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots)
but religious turmoil remained an issue throughout
Shakespeare’s lifetime. The most direct reference
to Catholicism in Romeo and Juliet is the character
of Friar Lawrence, a Franciscan monk who serves
1. How did the Elizabethans develop their
stereotypes about the Italians? How are
stereotypes created? Can stereotypes be both
positive and negative?
2. Research the history of the religious conflicts in
Elizabethan England.
Classroom Connections
Before the performance...
Choose your own ending
As a class, make a timeline of all of the major
events in Romeo and Juliet, such as “Romeo
meets Juliet at the masquerade ball” and
“Romeo and Juliet are secretly married.”
Break up into small groups of four or five
students and have each group rewrite the plot
of Romeo and Juliet, having the characters
make different decisions at the crucial
moments during the major events outlined
earlier. Have students present their alternate
versions of Romeo and Juliet to the class and
discuss how these changes would affect all of
the characters in the play.
Page to Stage: What’s your concept?
As a class, discuss potential design concepts
for the play. Where would you set Romeo and
Juliet to make it the most relevant for your
audience? Think about different historical
settings that might work for Romeo and Juliet
and have students research famous past
productions of the play. Remind students that
the concept must work for the entire play—not
just certain scenes.
Consider showing excerpts from the Baz
Luhrmann film and the Franco Zeffirelli version
and have students compare and contrast each
director’s interpretation, keeping in mind the
specific time periods during which each was
produced. Which film feels more relevant to
the students and why?
After the performance...
Who’s to blame? Letters to the editor
As a class, discuss the various characters who
could be held responsible for the deaths of
Romeo and Juliet (including, of course, the
young lovers themselves). Have each student
pick a character (or assign each student a
character) and argue in a persuasive letter to
the editor of the Verona Times that he or she
is directly responsible for the deaths of Romeo
and Juliet and should be tried in court.
Have students find examples that support their
claims (i.e. Capulet’s decision to force Juliet to
marry Paris). Letters MUST include supporting
evidence from the text! To promote
presentation skills, have students read their
letters out loud, encouraging them to use their
voices and delivery to be as persuasive as
To take it a step further, have students work in
pairs and present closing arguments in the
trial against their character (i.e. Friar
Lawrence) debating his or her innocence or
guilt. The other students will serve as a jury.
Share your opinion: theatre criticism
Now that your students have seen the STC
production of Romeo and Juliet, have your
students write reviews of the performance.
Encourage students to highlight the production
elements (costumes, set, fight choreography,
actor performances, etc.) and themes that
made an impression on them, either positively
or negatively. Focus on being as specific as
possible; instead of saying “I didn’t like the
lights” or “I loved the costumes,” add details to
explain why.
Once students have written their reviews, find
others from outside sources (i.e. the
Washington Post, City Paper, etc.) and
analyze them. How do their reviews compare?
Do they agree or disagree with the outside
After reading the reviews, ask students to
evaluate their own reviews for style and
content. What changes, if any, would they
make to their writing and why?
Resource List and Standards of Learning
Books on Shakespeare
• Asimov, Isaac. Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare. Doubleday, 1978.
• Cahn, Victor L. The Plays of Shakespeare: A Thematic Guide. Greenwood Press, 2001.
• Epstein, Norrie. The Friendly Shakespeare. Penguin Books, 1993.
• Gibson, Janet and Rex Gibson. Discovering Shakespeare’s Language. Cambridge University Press, 1999.
• Greenblatt, Stephen. Will in the World. W.W. Norton, 2004.
• Holmes, Martin. Shakespeare and His Players. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1972.
• Kermode, Frank. Shakespeare’s Language. Allen Lane, The Penguin Press, 2000.
• Linklater, Kristin. Freeing Shakespeare’s Voice. Theatre Communications Group, 1992.
• McDonald, Russ. The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare: An Introduction with Documents. Bedford Books of
St. Martin’s Press,1996.
• Pritchard, R. E. Shakespeare’s England. Sutton Publishing Limited, 1999.
• Papp, Joseph and Elizabeth Kirkland. Shakespeare Alive. Bantam Books, 1988.
Books on Teaching Shakespeare
• Gibson, Rex. Teaching Shakespeare. Cambridge University Press, 1998.
• Reynolds, P. Teaching Shakespeare. Oxford University Press, 1992.
• Rosenblum, Joseph. A Reader's Guide to Shakespeare. Salem Press, Inc., 1998.
• Toropov, Brandon. Shakespeare for Beginners. Writers and Readers Publishing Inc., 1997.
• In Search of Shakespeare: Shakespeare in the Classroom —
- The companion website to Michael Wood’s four-part PBS series In Search of Shakespeare, this site
includes extensive research about Shakespeare’s life and works, as well as interactive features.
Folger Shakespeare Library —
- Includes excellent resources for further reading about Shakespeare, as well as fun games and
information designed specifically for students and teachers.
The activities and question sequences found in the Folio supports grade 9-12 standards of learning in English and
theatre for the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. Primary content areas addressed include but are not
limited to:
- Classical Literature
- Vocabulary and content development
- Stagecraft
- Argument and persuasive writing
- Research
- Performance
- Questioning and Listening
- Inference
- Analysis and Evaluation
Specific examples include:
Activity: Page to Stage
Identify the aesthetic effects of a media presentation, and evaluate the techniques used to create them.
VA—content strand: Traditional Narrative and Classical Literature
DC—content strand: Media 10.M.3
MD—content strand: 2.1.4
Activity: Whose to Blame
Write persuasive essays that structure ideas and arguments in a sustained and logical fashion; engage the reader.
VA—content strand: Research 10.11
DC—content strand: Writing 10.W-E.5
MD—content strand: 3.3.1 ADP A, B
Activity: Share Your Opinion
The student will describe personal responses to theatrical productions in terms of the qualities of the production as a
VA—content strand: Aesthetics TII.15
DC—content strand: Drama 10.LT-D.9
MD—content strand: 3.1.3 ADP B6
Theatre Etiquette:
A Guide for Students
Above all, it is important to remember that the actors on stage can see and
hear you at the same time you can see and hear them. Be respectful of the
actors and your fellow audience members by being attentive and observing the
general guidelines below.
The phrase “theatre etiquette” refers to the special
rules of behavior that are called for when attending a
theatre performance. With that in mind, here are some
important things to do before you go inside the
Turn off your cell phone and any other electronic devices
(iPods, games, etc.), or better yet, leave them in coat
check. It is very distracting, not to mention embarrassing,
when a cell phone goes off during a performance. The
light from cell phones and other electronic devices is also
a big distraction, so please no text messaging.
Spit out your gum.
Leave all food and drinks in the coat check. NO food or
drinks are allowed inside the theatre.
Visit the restroom before the performance begins. Unless
it is an emergency, plan to stay seated during the
React to what’s
happening on stage!
Please feel free to have
honest reactions to what is
happening onstage. You can
laugh, applaud and enjoy the
However, please don’t talk
during the performance; it is
extremely distracting to other
audience members and the
actors. Save discussions for
intermission and after the
Thoughts about the importance of being an audience member from
Shakespeare Theatre Company Artistic Director Michael Kahn
“When you go to the theatre, you are engaging with other living, breathing human
beings, having an immediate human response. In the theatre you sense that all of
this may never happen again in this particular way.
As a member of the audience, you are actually part of how that’s developing—you
have a hand in it… You are part of a community where you are asked to be
compassionate, perhaps to laugh with or grieve as well as to understand people,
lives and cultures different from your own.”