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Average Customer Rating:

Very difficult to hear

Customer Rating:

If you are a teacher, I would look into buying another audio version of Romeo and Juliet. I have been using it as a tool to get the students to hear professional actors and to then ask them to use the same skills those professional actors use (inflection, emphasis, etc.) The problem is it is VERY difficult to hear...to the point that you have to sit 3 feet away to hear it at times. This simply does not work for a classroom.

John Andrews is the best	Customer Rating:
The notes that John Andrews gives on all the Everyman Shakespeare editions that he edits are fabulous. I think his editions are the most user friendly for any actor, student, director and teacher. Some publishing house should get Mr. Andrews to do all the plays.

Becomes more complex with every read...

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Poor Romeo. Watching Romeo meander his way through the play is like tailgating a drunk driver. At any moment he could crash, and in the end he overcorrects his assumptions by swallowing the poison, and in some ways his death must be a relief to his troubled mind. Romeo's status in the story changes with nearly every scene, whether by his own doing or by an external entity. However, his circumstance reflects in almost every case his willingness to succumb to his passions. From his love of Rosalind to his love for Juliet to his exile, he is a bundle of nerves. Taking a time out would slow the pace, and instead Shakespeare quickens it by transplanting Romeo's moment of joy with Juliet with a moment of action and consequence: the death of Mercutio. Giving Romeo the chance to be happy might damage his character. A great tragedy yet today. What makes it great is that the basic storyline pulls everyone in, and once the story captures, we can start to appreciate the minor characters, like Capulet and the Nurse.

Heart-wrenching!!	Customer Rating:
Shakespeare defines teen angst in this romantic tragedy. 14-year-old Juliet and Romeo falls in love at a party despite their family's feud. There are movies made from this play, but nothing beats reading the play itself to relish the writing of Shakespeare. Heart-wrenching and beautiful.

Romeo and Juliet-Warning: May Cause Pulmonary Problems

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Caution Scalawags: May Cause Pulmonary Failure!, July 29, 2004 Reviewer: Professor Emeritus Percy Q. Johnstone (Darkest India) - See all my reviews Yes dear reader, it is I, Professor Emeritus Johnstone. As you may have divined, as Professor Emeritus of American Literature, I am well versed with dramatic writings from our sister nation, England. Now, many of you are unfamiliar with the work, as William Shakespeare is relatively unknown in the bumpkin-ridden land you call "The Colonies". However, you lucky few will discover a goldmine of quotes such as "Alack, Alack, Alack" and other favorites. But I, Professor Emeritus Johnstone, diverge. Yes yes. For those of you who wish to pursue the god-given purpose of the most noble art of teaching American Literature, you must be familiar with the works of Shakespeare. As you are stupid, and not a professor, like I, Professor Emeritus Johnstone, you undoubtedly do not understand, but no matter. The story of "Romeo and Juliet" is simple. it opens in a court yard in Venice where the political rebels, Pyramus and Thisbe are plotting to overthrow the evil fascist government (oh how I, Professor Emeritus Johnstone know that feeling. I confess, dear reader, that once I, Professor Emeritus Johnstone, lived in America until government stooges exiled me to darkest India for poliical subterfuge. Suberfuge! Bah!). Alas, Lord Capulet's men break into the meeting and arrest poor Pyramus and Thisbe, casting them into the darkest dungeon. Ah, but fortune smiles on our two heroes, for in the cell next to them are the "Star-burned lovers" Romeo and Juliet, who were imprisoned for plotting to overthrow the evil Capulet. Together, they escape the prison, kill all the fascist-swine guards, and blow up the prison, bringing us, dear reader, rather neatly to the end of Act I. Act II opens in Lord Montague's (Lord Capulet's chief of security) hall, where he has just made posters offering 5000 marks for the heads of the four rebels. Enter the villain (mustache and all) Tybalt (cousin to Count Paris) the bounty-hunter. Tybalt, in a scene that moved even I, Professor Emeritus Johnstone, gives a heartrending "soliliquy" in which he mourns on he pain of killing those whose politico agendas you support. Thus ends Act II. In Act III, we find...ROMEO WORKING FOR LORD CAPULET! He has become a traitorous lap-dog to the very system he despises (oh reader, how I, Professor Emeritus Johnstone, know this feeling!). Pyramus and his rebel army storm the palace, and in the final scene, Pyramus kills his traitorous lover, Romeo, driving a dagger through his jugular...only to find out that Romeo was a spy. Pyramus then jumps out the highest tower in penance to end the play. Genius. Every potential collegiate scamp should read this edition, for it has a preface by one of the greatest scholars of our age...none other than I, Professor Emeritus Johnstone. Hark, I hear my Biddy calling me to gruel and morning prayers. As Hamlet said, "Adieu Fair Readers!" Bitterly, --Professor Emeritus Percy Q. Johnstone