Romeo and Juliet

NEW REVISED EDITION

Although writers since antiquity had recognized and recorded the experience of adolescence, none had dramatized it so comprehensively.--Jill L. Levenson

Shakespeare Made in Canada is a series of editions of Shakespeare's plays with a national focus. A testament to the University of Guelph's commitment to the dissemination of research on the arts in Canada, and in particular to the Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project run since 2004 by Guelph professor Daniel Fischlin, the series aims to celebrate "Canadians doing Shakespeare for over 150 years" ... and to provide teaching texts for Canadian undergraduate students. Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest, the first editions in the series, advance these commemorative and pedagogical aims imaginatively.... [E]ach includes a preface by a Canadian playwright involved with an adaptation of the play as well as an introduction by a leading Canadian scholar. In addition to a play-text complete with original new annotation for students, each edition contains a plethora of pedagogical aids that are sure to make this series popular among undergraduates in particular.... In her introduction to Romeo and Juliet in this series, Jill L. Levenson argues that adaptations of Romeo and Juliet since the Restoration have often deconstructed the story that Shakespeare dramatized.... Levenson's statements about Canadian adaptations of Romeo and Juliet supply fresh insight into the nation's ongoing culture conflicts. -Joel Benabu, Shakespeare Bulletin

The Shakespeare Made in Canada volumes are inexpensive paperbacks featuring new editions of the play-texts.... [C]lear and comprehensive act and scene summaries narrate the action and highlight thematic hotspots.... In his preface to Romeo and Juliet, theatre artist extraordinaire Sky Gilbert ... finds the play to be absolutely relevant today: "The concerns in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet are also our concerns." -Susan Knutson, Literary Review of Canada

Overpowering adolescent passion at odds with a troubled adult world: this ancient tale was never more grippingly told than Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, where two youths come together in a love that is both transformative and death-marked. The society around them lacks flexibility, failing to govern this destabilizing energy. Shakespeare scholar Jill L. Levenson-whose work on this play has opened new readings of Romeo and Juliet internationally-shows how the play's treatment of gender, class, sexuality, and political fragmentation has found rich resonance in Canada. There are a variety of surprisingly creative adaptations not just in French and English but also, for example, in French and Attikamek. From ballet to Ann-Marie MacDonald's award-winning play Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), Romeo and Juliet remains a compelling exploration of passion and violence.