About the play

The tragedy "Romeo and Juliet" was first performed around 1596 and quickly became one of the most famous plays by William Shakespear. It deals with the feud between two powerful families in Verona, Italy and the tragic affair between the two young lovers Romeo and Juliet.

While writing the drama, Shakespear had different sources of inspiration, one of the main sources being the poem "Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet" (1562) by Arthur Brooke. Brooke's poem was based on a french version of said poem by Bandello from 1554, which was inspired by the 1525 interpretation by Luigi da Porto of a story by Massuccio Salernitano from 1476. While Shakespear stays mostly true to his source, he changed a few aspects in the process of writing. He changed small details like the age of Juliet (making her 13 instead of 16), but he also condensed the timespan over which the events happen.