Romeo and Juliet (Banks)
by William Shakespeare
Adapted by Greg Banks
Shakespeare’s immortal story of young love and rebellion comes to visceral, thrilling life in this brilliant new version by Greg Banks. Take to the streets as Romeo and Juliet’s new found love ignites the passion and rage of all Verona. There you will be swept away by sword fights, mystified at a masquerade ball, and witness to fiery lover’s trysts.
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Creators
William Shakespeare, playwright
Greg Banks, playwright
Details
46 pgs., 2 female, 11 male (Doubling possible for cast of 10)
Originally produced in CTC’s 2008-09 season
Run Time: 1 hour, 32 minutes
Audience Recommendation: 13+
Click HERE to request a performance license.
“Banks has not set his Romeo and Juliet in a dainty, pastoral Verona. Instead, he has placed Shakespeare’s tragedy about teenage passion and family feuds in a walled city that suggests Serbia. The warring Capulets and Montagues are not royals, but village big shots.” – Star Tribune
“Romeo has just drunk his draught of poison and is bending down to give one last kiss to the not-really-dead Juliet. As their lips meet, Juliet revives and ardently returns her lover’s kiss…just before he dies in her arms. That familiar scene is always laced with bitter irony. But in CTC’s gripping and urgent staging of Romeo & Juliet it just about stops the audience’s heart along with Romeo’s.” -St. Paul Pioneer Press
“With [Banks’] muscular and rollicking Romeo & Juliet, he has opened wide the soul of the Bard’s tragedy, and touched our own.” –Star Tribune
*Voted best play of 2009 by TwinCities.com*
*Winner of the 2009 IVEY Award for Direction*
Click »here for a PDF excerpt. (Adobe Acrobat is required)