What Romeo and Juliet is about, beneath the plot
The plot is what people remember. The play is what's underneath — what it cares about, what it argues with itself about, what it wants you to feel before it tells you why.
Family Feud & Hate
Nobody alive remembers why the feud started. Everybody is willing to die for it anyway. The play is what you get when hate becomes inheritance.
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Fate & Free Will
"A pair of star-cross'd lovers" — the prologue tells you the ending. Then the play makes you wonder whether anyone actually chose any of it.
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Love
The play teaches Romeo the difference between an idea and a person — and the tragedy is how much it costs him to learn.
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Time & Haste
The whole play takes about four days. Every disaster is a half-hour late or a half-hour early. Speed is the engine — and the killer.
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Hear the play, narrated.
