The Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet

This annotated edition of The Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet provides two valuable textual services to its readers. It restores the language of Shakespeare to that of the First Folio of 1623, with its idiosyncratic but illuminating spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. It also provides footnotes and annotations that are candid and plainspoken in their accounting of Shakespeare’s themes, especially his frequent if oft-overlooked and underappreciated bawdy puns and allusions. An extensive introduction is included, as are appendices detailing typographical errors, stage directions, emended lineations and character tags from the First Folio.

Demitra Papadinis divides her time between New Hampshire and New York City. She is the founder and Producing Artistic Director of the New England Shakespeare Festival and a founding member of New York City’s WildBard! An expert in Unrehearsed Shakespeare/First Folio Cue-Script Technique, she presents workshops and educational programs at schools, colleges, and theatres throughout the country.

William Shakespeare

Annotated and with an Introduction by Demitra Papadinis
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 487
Bibliographic Info: 9 illustrations, appendices, notes, bibliography
Copyright Date: 2010
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4748-0
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5641-3
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vi
Preface      1
Introduction
Of Forthright FootNotes (or, putting the “count” back in “country”)      3
“Filthy Plaies and Enterluds”      6
Why the First Folio?      8
What’s Wrong with Editing?      10
The Importance of Spelling      12
The Importance of Punctuation      15
Notes on the Annotation      21
Abbreviations of Key Reference Works      25

The Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet: First Folio Play-script with Accompanying Annotation
Act I, scene i      28
Act I, scene ii      62
Act I, scene iii      78
Act I, scene iv      92
Act I, scene v      118
Act II, scene i      136
Act II, scene ii      138
Act II, scene iii      168
Act II, scene iv      184
Act II, scene v      228
Act II scene vi      238
Act III, scene i      246
Act III, scene ii      270
Act III, scene iii      290
Act III, scene iv      310
Act III, scene v      314
Act IV, scene i      342
Act IV, scene ii      358
Act IV, scene iii      364
Act IV, scene iv      370
Act V, scene i      394
Act V, scene ii      406
Act V, scene iii      410

Textual Preparation      449
Appendix I (Typographical Errors Corrected)      463
Appendix II (Stage Directions, Entrances and Exits Emended)      464
Appendix III (Lineation Emended)      468
Appendix IV (Character Tags Emended)      469
Bibliography      473