After Juliet

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Just before dawn, Romeo prepares to lower himself from Juliet’s window to begin his exile. Juliet tries to convince Romeo that the birdcalls they hear are from the nightingale, a night bird, rather than from the lark, a morning bird. Romeo cannot entertain her claims; he must leave before the morning comes or be put to death. Juliet declares that the light outside comes not from the sun, but from some meteor. Overcome by love, Romeo responds that he will stay with Juliet, and that he does not care whether the Prince’s men kill him. Faced with this turnaround, Juliet declares that the bird they heard was the lark; that it is dawn and he must flee. The play is watched by a chorus of young Capulet women, the chief of which is the spiteful, bitchy, spoilt princess Alice, another of Juliet's cousins, played spiritedly by Laura Walton.

She is also the author of two novels, The Beast (1986) and Night Night (1988), and wrote the screenplay for Wild Flowers (1989) for Channel 4 Television and the BBC Radio play Sea Urchins (1998). A further radio play, Gladly My Cross Eyed Bear, was broadcast in 1999. She wrote the libretto to Hey Persephone!, performed at Aldeburgh with music by Deirdre Gribbin. Juliet is decisive when she fakes her own death so she can be with Romeo. She listens to Friar Laurence's plan and decides to fulfil it. He loves and would perhaps repeat Romeo's folly, but he is more aware of the possible price to pay – nothing is as simple after Romeo and Juliet as it seemed before, the world is greyer, less clear cut. Juliet is passionate when she first meets Romeo. She kisses him when they first meet, and later on, in the famous balcony scene, she declares her love for him.

Juliet gives glimpses of her determination, strength, and sober-mindedness, in her earliest scenes, and offers a preview of the woman she will become during the four-day span of Romeo and Juliet. While Lady Capulet proves unable to quiet the Nurse, Juliet succeeds with one word (also in Act 1, scene 3). In addition, even in Juliet’s dutiful acquiescence to try to love Paris, there is some seed of steely determination. Juliet promises to consider Paris as a possible husband to the precise degree her mother desires. While an outward show of obedience, such a statement can also be read as a refusal through passivity. Juliet will accede to her mother’s wishes, but she will not go out of her way to fall in love with Paris.

In After Juliet the embargo on weapons is being enforced but the feud between the young Capulets and Montagues is simmering. Rosaline, convinced that there should be fighting, raids the tomb to get the only swords available. Implacable Valentine does the same so that when the new Prince of Cats is elected, ‘the days will breathe again.’ Rosaline forces the Capulets to choose between peace and war. After she is elected Princess of Cats, she fights Valentine with total conviction. However, she is unable to sustain her animosity when Benvolio takes up the fight and simply challenges her to kill him. She is not exactly enthusiastic in response to Benvolio’s passion but at least she takes his hand and promises that, in the spring, she will wear that special green dress that he liked, pale, pale green.The play centres on Rosaline, Juliet's cousin and Romeo's ex-flame. Ironically, Rosaline had been in love with Romeo, but was playing "hard to get". Tortured by the loss of her love, Rosaline has become a sullen, venomous woman. She actively seeks to be elected the 'Princess of Cats' and run the Capulet family. Presenter: Oh dear. What a pity! Shameful scenes of descent at the end there. And that is a sure fire way of getting yourself recast. Nevertheless, May (Justin David Sullivan) is a typically clever modern gloss on Shakespeare — a playwright, as Anne points out, who is “basically synonymous with gender-bending.” And if three of the couples, liberated by Juliet’s liberation, achieve surprisingly normative happy endings, the girl herself ends the show uncommitted, still trying to “own her choices,” apparently by not making any.

Presenter: Oh and an inspired touch! I don’t think anybody saw that shot coming! Super special effects skill from the director there. Well played my son!

Editorial content

Once upon a time in fair Verona, Romeo and Juliet lived, loved and died, leaving in their wake two grieving families and a violent feud only tentatively resolved. So what happened next? I decided to use the text by Brooke that Shakespeare used as his source. After Juliet is a kind of doggerel because it has vitality and there is the potential for mischief in it. It's allowed to make a fool of itself occasionally. It gave me the freedom to leap off from the play and the film. Increasingly I want to write with music and an integral part of After Juliet is the music composed by Caleb Knightley and Adrian Howgate. A 2009 youth, stage version of the show featured Valentine as the twin sister of Mercutio; this added an extra storyline where Valentine is in love with Benvolio and is jealous of Rosaline. Benvolio's final scene ends with Valentine running off stage after his rejection.

The main action moves from the characters we know onto the shoulders of fair Roslaline, often mentioned but who never speaks in the prequel. She is a Capulet, a cousin of Juliet, and loved Romeo, and ironically is the lady whom Romeo claims to love at the start of his play, though she rejected his every advance. As it turns out, Rosaline and Benvolio’s relationship (which is mostly one-sided) is such a small part of this short but fascinating work. This is more of an exploration of Rosaline’s thoughts following the tragedy and, even more broadly, the thoughts of Verona as a whole. Most of the scenes consist of the characters discussing the events of Shakespeare’s play and trying to make sense of them—who should be blamed for all of the recent deaths? Should the two families remain at peace, or is that a fruitless endeavor? Did Romeo and Juliet even really love each other? This 1999 play by Sharman MacDonald is set in the immediate wake of the events that Shakespeare details in his Most Excellent And Lamentable Tragedy Of Romeo And Juliet (oh, they dont write titles like that anymore). As a result, it is difficult for me to dwell on performances, which largely did not arrest us; I do not think this was always the fault of the performers, since I sensed there was a great deal of talent which could not fully blossom within the confines of the production. Some rose above it, however. First and foremost, Robert Drummer as Valentine: here is an assured, stylish, confident actor, with a fine presence and strong natural delivery, who created interest. Josh Duhigg ran him a close second as Benvolio; again, this actor has presence and command - also a stillness of movement and delivery, two valuable assets.

The scenes are linked and interspersed by the very lovely peripatetic flute playing of Julia Gibb, with music composed by one of the Progresss resident music masters, Peter Charles. Remember, the audience has been building up to this moment for the past few hours so it’s got to be dramatically satisfying. Otherwise, you could have a riot on your hands. To combat the coming of the light, Juliet attempts once more to change the world through language: she claims the lark is truly a nightingale. Where in the balcony scene Romeo saw Juliet as transforming the night into day, here she is able to transform the day into the night. But just as their vows to throw off their names did not succeed in overcoming the social institutions that have plagued them, they cannot change time. As fits their characters, it is the more pragmatic Juliet who realizes that Romeo must leave; he is willing to die simply to remain by her side.