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There are at least five movie versions and it may be argued some modern plays and films such as the (West Side Story) are loosely based on the tale. all of them (WSS discounted, as only the male character, Tony, is killed in a gun fight) retain the double tragedy nature of the play which is Situation Tragedy. Not aware of any with felicitous or jolly-style outcomes, though it is possible by changing the story around.

There is a black and white version released in 1936 starring Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer who were much older than Shakespeare intended. Howard was 43 and Shearer was 33. Nevertheless, Shearer received an Oscar nomination. The screenplay is relatively faithful to the original text although lines are omitted and liberties taken.

The most lavish version is Franco Zefferelli's 1968 release starring Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey. Both 17 when the movie was shot, they remain the youngest actors filmed for a major release of Romeo and Juliet. Beautifully shot, the film remains the gold standard for movie versions. However, lines were omitted and Juliet's entire soliloquy where she drinks the potion, was left out.

The third and last of the big-budget versions is Baz Luhrman's Romeo + Juliet starring Leonardo di Caprio and Clare Danes. Although the actors speak using Shakespeare's lines, the setting is current. Instead of Verona, the story unfolds in Verona Beach and the characters fight with guns and not swords. Still, the production is very faithful to the original play although shot with Luhrman's bombastic style. It is a visual feast as one would expect from Luhrman who also shot Moulon Rouge. Di Caprio and Danes, and indeed the entire cast, deliver their lines wonderfully. Although it certainly helps to have studied the play, this movie is very accessible and easily understood. As with the other major releases, liberties are taken, and some scenes are diced up and interspersed with one another.

There are least three British productions available on CD that were filmed on sets and with a minimum of pomp and glitz. On the plus side, they are line-for-line accurate to the original. They vary in quality.

One production is performed by the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and stars Clive Francis and Angela Scoular. It is black and white and the lighting is very poor. The sound isn't very good either, a hollow echo around the set. During the first part of the balcony scene, Romeo has his back to Juliet as he "thinks" his lines which were overdubbed, his lips not moving and his eyes 180 degrees from the balcony.

Another set production stars Christopher Neame and Ann Hasson and is from the Thames Shakespeare Collection. It is faithful to the original and decently acted.

A third set production (from the BBC's mammoth project to film all of Shakespeare's plays, circa 1978) stars a very young Alan Rickman as Tybalt.

A Canadian film by CBC of a performance at the Stratford Festival with Megan Porter Follows and Antoni Cimolino is also available. Colm Feore makes a very good Mercutio.

All in all the IMdb lists 36 films and TV shows with the title Romeo and Juliet, although some of these are ballets. There are 34 others which use the two names in the title, suggesting that they are likely in some way based on the story Shakespeare told.

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How many acts are Shakespeare's plays divided into?

shakespeare usually had plays of 5 acts each with 5 scenes


How were William Shakespeare's plays handed down?

All 38 plays which we recognize as Shakespeare's were published before 1634 in some form. We are very fortunate in that two friends of Shakespeare's, Heminges and Condell, decided after his death to publish a compendium of his plays. William Shakespeare's plays were published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death, in a volume entitled "Mr William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories & Tragedies," known as "The First Folio," containing the text of 36 plays. These were produced by his colleagues in the acting company known as "The King's Men" and are considered to be authentic. Had it not been published, we would never have heard of about half of the plays we know to be Shakespeare's, including such famous ones as Macbeth and Julius Caesar.The Collection of Shakespeare's plays has been re-edited and reprinted constantly since 1623. Sometimes new plays were added to the original 36 in the First Folio, and sometimes these were afterwards removed.In addition to the First Folio, some plays were published seperately in what are called Quarto size (half as big as the Folio) in which the text differed from the First Folio versions. The words "folio" and "quarto" describe the sizes of paper on which they were printed. If they hadn't been, we would have had no source for the two plays now agreed to be by Shakespeare which were not in the First Folio, Pericles and The Two Noble Kinsmen. Also, the Folio and Quarto versions of Hamlet and King Lear particularly are very different from each other. Without the Quarto versions, a lot of very familiar lines would have been lost. Thankfully, people kept these old books and didn't throw them out because they were old.Once published, the plays have been continuously republished since, and there is an unbroken chain of productions since 1660.The truth is that some of Shakespeare's plays may have never even been written down, and some that were written down may have been destroyed by the passage of time and the elements. At least two plays whose titles we know have disappeared completely. There may be others of which we do not even know the title.


Did shakespeare write any plays in the 1800s?

William Shakespeare died in 1616.


When Shakespeare was not writing plays what did he do?

romeo and Juliet


Who wrote shakspears plays?

William Shakespeare

Related Questions

When did William Shakespeare become known for his plays?

Shakespeare was known during his lifetime for his plays. That is why unauthorized versions of them (with his name on them) were published as early as the early 1590's


How do you have Shakespeare's works?

We have Shakespeare's works because he wrote them. You can see stage productions or film, or television versions of his plays. You can read his plays in printed form from libraries or bookstores. You can even find public domain versions online from several sources.


Approximately how many different words are used in Shakespeare's plays?

Shakespeare's plays contain around 31,000 different words.


What are Shakespeare's plays divided by?

All of Shakespeare's plays were divided into 5 acts, each act with a different number of scenes.


What are different quotations from Shakespeares plays?

"Brevity is the soul of wit," and "Out, damned spot! out, I say!" are different quotations from Shakespeare's plays


Which Shakespeare play contains the most words?

Hamlet, especially if the different versions are merged into one, is Shakespeare's longest play from any perspective. Richard III is next.


How were Shakespeare's plays different from modern movies?

They wold rely on words.


Which are the longest and shortest plays written by shakespeare?

The Comedy of Errors is the shortest. Hamlet is the longest only because there are two quite different shorter versions which are mashed together into one really long version. The longest play as it was published in Shakespeare's day (that is, before 1624) is in fact Richard III.


Did Shakespeare work anywhere else but the Globe Theatre?

William Shakespeare's plays were so well done that Queen Elizabeth asked him to have them performed in her castle. It is not said that Shakespeare's plays were performed in a different public theatre.


Did Shakespeare have many stage directions in his plays?

Yes, depending on what preconceptions you have about what it means to "create" a play. Shakespeare did indeed write at least part of all the plays attributed to him. Sometimes he wrote with another playwright as a team, so he did not write all of them alone. And he did not create the plots or stories of his plays. With two exceptions, he borrowed them from books or other plays. That was normal and completely accepted at the time for all playwrights. What mattered was Shakespeare's treatment of the story and the lines he wrote for the actors, not the creation of the story itself.


How many versions of Shakespeare sonnets in German?

365


What encouraged Shakespeare to write stories?

Shakespeare didn't write stories. He wrote plays. Plays are very different from stories. Imagine if you took your favourite story and left out everything except the things that the characters say. That's what a play is like. Shakespeare was encourage to write plays because it was his job. The more plays and the better plays he wrote, the more money he made.