Romeo And Julien

Adapted from William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”

With text by William Shakespeare and Clayton Kinnelon Greiman

Copyright 2007 Clayton Kinnelon Greiman

 

If you wish to perform this play, e-mail Clayton at swimrdie@gmail.com

 

The play is free to perform, and there are no royalties to be paid of any sort.

 

     Note on the set:  when I revamp these plays, my goal is to trim the cast and to make the scripts as accessible to prospective directors as possible.  However, this play proves problematic in that it covers so much ground:  Julien’s bedroom, Julien’s balcony, a tomb, a room in the Capulet mansion, city streets, Friar Laurence’s cell, etc.  (Self-admittedly, this play would translate better as a motion picture, where getting from one location to another is as simple as a fade out.)

     In my minimalist vision, the only required aspects of stage design are Julien’s bedroom/balcony and a raised ‘altar’ downstage (on which Julien lies, as in a tomb, at the end of the play).  The latter set piece may also be utilized during the sword fighting scenes to give the battles a multi-level construction.

     The remainder of the play could take place in an almost black box style atmosphere if need be.

      Please keep in mind the majority of the characters, as intended by Shakespeare himself, are teenagers.  Their actions and emotions are erratic, lustful, and violent.  In my reinterpretation, I have striven to maintain neutrality on the virtuousness of either the House of Capulet or Montague; each should be equally erratic, lustful, and violent.  

       As for costuming, here's an image from a ballet production of "Romeo and Juliet"; in my opinion, the outfit Romeo is wearing would be ideal for the male characters of "Romeo and Julien".  

 

Cast:

 

Romeo Montague

Julien Capulet

Mercutio

Tybalt Capulet

Balthasar

Lord Capulet

Friar Laurence

Nurse

Paris (an older aristocratic noblewoman)

Apothecary (recorded voice)

 

Scene:  A hot summer night in Verona.

 

Lights up on Romeo and Mercutio (bottle of wine in hand) making out.  The two were en route to the Capulet Ball, when they stopped for the wine and make-out session.  The ball itself has been billed as an orgy of decadence and wealth.  All the young men at the ball will be shirtless and wearing masks (sexy Zorro-style ones).  Mercutio and Romeo are dressed accordingly. 

 

The kiss/make out session between Romeo and Mercutio continues throughout the Prologue.   

 

Prologue (Which is a voice over recorded by the actor portraying Friar Laurence):

Some hours before the worshipped sun
Peered forth the golden window of the east,
A troubled mind drove me to walk abroad;
Where, underneath the grove of sycamore
That westward rooteth from the city's side,
So late walking did I see your son:
Towards him I made, but he was ware of me
And stole into the covert of the wood:
I, measuring his affections by my own,
That most are busied when they're most alone,
Pursued my humor not pursuing his,
And gladly shunned who gladly fled from me.

 

Balthasar (dressed for the Capulet Ball) enters hastily after the speaking of the last Prologue line.

 

Balthasar:  Peace and be still, here comes Tybalt of the house of the Capulets!

.

Mercutio:  My naked weapon is out; start a quarrel, I will back thee.

 

Romeo: Your ‘backing’ shall prove little use in a fight,

And your sword, for your drunkenness, shall be of equal disuse. 

Let him pass, so that we may not arrive at the Capulet Ball as ghosts. 

 

Enter Tybalt (similarly dressed/undressed for the Capulet Ball).  He walks with a great deal of arrogance across the stage, and has made it just past Romeo and Mercutio when the latter loses hold on his tongue.

 

Mercutio:  Here’s a large mouth, indeed, that spits forth death and mountains, rocks, and seas,

Talks as familiarly of roaring lions as maids of thirteen do of puppy-dogs.   

Here’s a fop that shakes the rotten carcass of death out of his rags!

I ask the stars, what cannoneer begot this lusty blood?  Surely, it must be a bastard,

For no right marriage of man and woman could produce such an heir!

 

Romeo (beneath his breath):  Oh spite. 

 

Tybalt (drawing his sword):  Who lives and dares but say they didst not well when I was got,
I’ll send his soul to hell. 

 

Romeo:  Your sword is bright, sir; put it up again.

 

Tybalt:  Not till I sheathe it in a slanderer’s skin. 

 

Romeo:  By heaven, I think my sword’s as sharp as yours.

I would not have you, sir, forget yourself,

Nor tempt the danger of my true defense,

Lest I, by marking of your rage, forget

Your worth, your greatness, and nobility. 

 

Mercutio:  I bite my thumb at his nobility! 

Some souls do bear their privilege on earth,

For their rankness can know nothing of Heaven;

So it was with your mother and father,

Siring instead of praying, wooing instead of wedding. 

 

Tybalt:  Within this night, your breathing shall expire,

Paying the fine of rated treachery

Even with a treacherous fine of all your lives.    

Draw, the corrupt trinity of you, if you be men!

 

Mercutio (looking down at his ‘package’ and then Romeos, with a smile): 

Oh, men we most certainly be.  Tis known that I, especially, am a pretty piece of flesh.

 

A fight ensues.  It is a rather playful one (at least on the part of Romeo, Mercutio, and Balthasar, who, by sheer numbers, get the better of Tybalt).  The choreography should incorporate sexual tension between the young men, with Tybalt becoming the object of desire.  Tybalt wants no part in such a game, and his growing frustration should become evident over the course of the fight as Romeo, Mercutio, and Balthasar mock/half molest him.  Tybalt eventually grows frustrated with the increasingly sexual nature of the fight and retreats. 

 

Mercutio:  A noble boy!  Who would not do thee right? 

 

Tybalt (as he is exiting):  This is not yet done!

 

Mercutio: I wait the hour when I can have but more of thee!

 

Tybalt having fled, Mercutio turns his attention back on Romeo.

 

Mercutio:  But first, I shall have more of thee.   

 

Romeo (to Balthasar, while staving off Mercutio):

We cannot continue with him so out of sorts.

 

Mercutio:  We shall go on without apology! (taking Romeo roughly in his arms)

We must have gentle Romeo dance.

 

Romeo:  I have a soul of lead that stakes me to the ground so I cannot move.

 

Mercutio:  You are a lover; borrow Cupid's wings,
And soar with them above a common bound.

 

Romeo:  I am too sore enpierced with his shaft
To soar with his light feathers, and so bound,
I cannot bound a pitch above dull woe:
Under love's heavy burden do I sink.

 

Mercutio:  And, to sink in it, should you burden love;
Too great oppression for a tender thing.

 

Romeo:  Is love a tender thing?  It is too rough,
Too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn.

 

Mercutio (once more manhandling Romeo): 

If love be rough with you, be rough with love;
Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.

 

Romeo (pulling away):  I dreamt a dream tonight.

 

Mercutio:  And so did I.  That dreamers often lie.

 

Romeo:  In bed asleep, while they do dream things true.

In my dream, I saw myself far away from you.

 

He pulls away from Mercutio and exits.  As soon as Romeo pulls away, Mercutio starts speaking the next set of lines to him.  Romeo is, of course, long gone by the time they are finished.         

 

Mercutio:  Thou wouldst talk of dreams,
Which are the children of an idle brain,
Begot of nothing but vain fantasy,
Which is as thin of substance as the air
And more inconstant than the wind, who woos
Even now the frozen bosom of the north,
And, being anger'd, puffs away from thence,
Turning his face to the dew-dropping south!

 

Balthasar:  This wind you talk of blows us from ourselves;
The night is half done, and we shall come too late.

 

Mercutio:  I fear, too early: for my mind misgives
Some consequence yet hanging in the stars
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
With this night's revels and expire the term
Of a despised life closed in my breast
By some vile forfeit of untimely death.

They start to exit.  Lights down.  Soon thereafter, music begins to play.  When the lights come back up again, it is the scene of the Capulet Ball.  An extras the director can cast are dancing in pairs; Capulet is standing on a higher level, watching the revelry.  Julien is standing beside his Nurse; Romeo is standing off to himself some ways distant.  

 

Julien (to nurse, upon seeing Romeo):  Who is that boy that stands to himself?

O, he doth teach the torches to burn bright!
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
Did my heart love till now?  Forswear it, sight!
For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.

 

Romeo sees Julien, smiles, approaches him, and they begin to dance.  Shortly thereafter, Tybalt enters.

 

Tybalt (seeing Romeo with Julien)

This should be a Montague.
What dares the slave
Come hither, covering his face,
To fleer and scorn at our solemnity?
Now, by the stock and honor of my kin, (Drawing his sword)
To strike him dead, I hold it not a sin.

 

Capulet (intercepting him):  Why, how now, kinsman!  Wherefore storm you so?

 

Tybalt:  Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe,
A villain that is hither come in spite,
To scorn at our solemnity this night.

He is a very serpent in my way,

And where so ever this foot of mind doth tread,

He lies before me. 

 

Capulet:  Young Romeo is it?

 

Tybalt:  'Tis he.  I will by violence tear him from your palace,

And torture him with grievous lingering death.  

 

Capulet:  Content thee, let him alone;
He bears himself like a gentleman;
And, to say truth, Verona brags of him
To be a virtuous and well-governed youth:
I would not for the wealth of all the town
Here in my house do him disparagement:
Therefore be patient, take no note of him:
It is my will, the which if thou respect,
Show a fair presence and put off these frowns,
And ill-beseeming semblance for a feast.

 

Tybalt:  It fits, when such a villain is a guest.  I'll not endure him.

 

Capulet:  You’ll not endure him!  Dare you be so bold?

Am I the master here, or you?

 

Tybalt:  I will withdraw: but this intrusion shall
Now seeming sweet convert to bitter gall.

 

Tybalt exits.

 

Romeo:  Thou art fair, and at thy birth, dear boy,

Nature and fortune joined to make thee great.  

 

Julien is overtaken by a schoolboy type of shyness and looks downward. 

 

Romeo:  What seest thou in the ground?  Hold up thy head.

Look in my eyes, there thy beauty lies.

 

Romeo kisses Julien.  Once the kiss is over, Julien stands in enraptured silence. 

 

Romeo:  What, were thy lips the worse for one poor kiss?

Speak, fair, but speak fair words or else be mute.

 

Julien:  Give me one kiss; I’ll give it back again.

 

He kisses Romeo.  As they are kissing, Mercutio and Balthasar enter.  The kiss between Romeo and Julien continues through the next set of lines. 

 

Mercutio (to Balthasar):  Now quick desire hath caught the yielding prey,

And glutton-like he feeds, yet never filleth.

His lips are conquerors; the boy’s mouth obeys,

Paying what ransom my Romeo willeth.   

The stargazers, having writ on death,

Say the plague is banished by thy shared breath.  

Long may they kiss each other!

Let us go and leave this idle theme.

Coal black clouds that shadow heaven’s light

Do summon us to part and bid good night. 

 

He exits, with Balthasar following close behind him.  The kiss between Romeo and Julien ends.

 

Romeo:  Pure lips, sweet seals in my soft lips imprinted,

What bargains may I make, still to be sealing?

To sell myself I can be well contented,

So thou wilt buy, and pay, and use good dealing.

 

Julien:  A thousand kisses buys my heart from me;

And pay them at thy leisure, one by one.

What is ten hundred kisses unto thee?

Are they not quickly told and quickly gone?
Say for nonpayment that the debt should double,

Is twenty hundred kisses such a trouble?  

 

Romeo:  Let us start the count at one. 

 

They kiss again.  The music ends. 

 

Capulet:  Lords and ladies, a word!

We have a banquet prepared,

And I ask that you follow me to the feast.

 

He exits, and the rest of the cast follows him.  Romeo and Julien part.  Julien’s nurse takes him by the hand and leads him towards the exit.  However, he turns back to stare at Romeo, who is staring at him.    

 

Julien:  Nurse, what is yond gentleman?

Go ask his name: if he be married.
My grave is like to be my wedding bed.

 

Nurse:  His name is Romeo, and a Montague;
The only son of your great enemy.

 

Julien:  My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
Prodigious birth of love it is to me,
That I must love a loathed enemy.

 

Romeo exits through the same point at which Mercutio and Balthasar exited, not in the direction of the others who exited for the feast.

 

Nurse:  Come, let's away.

 

Julien exits with Nurse.  Lights down.  Lights up again.  Enter Balthasar and Mercutio. 

 

Mercutio:  Now old desire doth in his deathbed lie,
And young affection gapes to be his heir;
That fair for which love groan'd for and would die,
With tender Mercutio match'd, is now not fair.
Now Romeo is beloved and loves again.
 

Enter Romeo behind them, unseen. 

 

Romeo:  Can I go forward when my heart is not with him?
Turn back, dull earth, and find thy center out.

 

Romeo exits. 

 

Mercutio:  Beautiful tyrant!  Fiend angelical!
Wolfish-ravening lamb!
Despised substance of divinest show!
Just opposite to what thou justly seemest,
A damned saint, an honorable villain!
O nature, what hadst thou to do in hell,
When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend
In mortal paradise of such sweet flesh?

 

Balthasar:  Mercutio, he is wise, and hath stol'n home to bed.

Let us do the same. 

 

Mercutio:  Nay, I'll conjure him.
Romeo!  Madman!  Passion!  Lover!
What!  Canst thou talk?  Hast thou a tongue?

O, would thou hadst not, or I had no hearing! 

 

Balthasar:  Come, he hath hid himself
To be consorted with the humorous night:
Blind is his love and best befits the dark.

 

Mercutio:  Sweet boy, this night I’ll waste in sorrow,

For my sick heart commands my eyes to watch.

Tell me, love’s master, shall we meet tomorrow?
Shall we?  Shall we?  His silence answers, ‘no’.

Balthasar:  Shall we go?

 

Mercutio:  Yes, for 'tis in vain
To seek him that means not to be found.

 

They exit.  Lights down.  Lights back up again. 

 

Julien is above, standing on his balcony.  Enter Romeo, below.  

 

Romeo (aside):  But, soft!  What light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Julien is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou art far more fair than she:
 
Julien:  Romeo…

 

Romeo (aside):  He speaks:
O, speak again, bright angel!  For thou art
As glorious to this night, being o'er my head
As is a winged messenger of heaven
Unto the white-upturned wondering eyes
Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him.

 

Julien:  O Romeo, Romeo!  Wherefore art thou Romeo?

 

Romeo (aside):  It is my soul that calls upon my name:
How silver-sweet sound lovers' tongues by night,
Like softest music to attending ears!

O blessed, blessed night! I am afeard.
Being in night, all this is but a dream,
Too flattering sweet to be substantial.

 

Julien:  Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.

 

Romeo:  I take thee at thy word:
Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized.

 

Julien:  My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words
Of that tongue's utterance, yet I know the sound:
Art thou not Romeo and a Montague?

 

Romeo:  Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike.

 

Julien:  Although I joy in thee,
I have no joy of this contract tonight:
It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden.

These violent delights have violent ends

And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,

Which, as they kiss, consume.  

 

Romeo:  O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?

 

Julien:  What satisfaction wouldst thou have?

 

Romeo:  The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine.

 

Julien:  I gave thee mine before thou didst request it.

A few words, dear Romeo, and good night indeed.
If thy love be honorable, thy purpose marriage,

Send me word tomorrow,
By one that I'll procure to come to thee,
Where and what time thou wilt perform the rite;
And all my fortunes at thy foot I'll lay
And follow thee throughout the world.

But if thou mean'st not well,
I do beseech thee to cease thy suit,

And leave me to my grief:
Tomorrow will I send.

I will not fail: 'tis twenty years till then.

A thousand times good night!

 

Romeo: Good night, good night!  Parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.

 

Lights down.  Actors exit.  Lights up on Friar Laurence.  Enter Romeo (now wearing a shirt).

 

Romeo:  Good morrow, father.

 

Friar Laurence:  What early tongue so sweet saluteth me?
Hath our Romeo not been in bed tonight.

 

Romeo:  The sweeter rest was mine.

 

Friar Laurence:  God pardon sin!  Wast thou with Mercutio?

 

Romeo:  With Mercutio?  No, I have forgot that name, and that name's woe.

My heart's dear love is set on the fair son of rich Capulet.
I pray that thou consent to marry us today.

 

Friar Laurence:  Holy Saint Francis, what a change is here!
Is Mercutio, whom thou didst love so dear, so soon forsaken? 

 

Romeo:  Thou chided me often for loving Mercutio and ordered me bury love.

 

Friar Laurence:  Not in a grave, to lay one in, another out to have.

 

Romeo:  He whom I love now
Doth grace for grace and love for love allow;
The other did not so.

 

Friar Laurence:  Romeo, I'll thy assistant be;
For this alliance may so happy prove,
To turn your households' rancor to pure love.

 

Enter Balthasar and Mercutio.

 

Friar Laurence:  We shall have more of this anon.   

 

Exit Friar Laurence.

 

Mercutio:  Romeo, you gave us the counterfeit last night.

 

Romeo:  What counterfeit did I give you?

 

Mercutio:  The slip, sir, the slip; can you not conceive?

 

Romeo:  My business was great; and in such a case a man may strain courtesy.

 

Mercutio:  Thou shall follow that business till thou hast worn out thy pump. 

 

Romeo:  Thou wast never with me for any thing

When thou wast not with me for the pump.

 

Mercutio:  Out upon you!  What a man you are!

I will bite thee by the ear for that jest.

 

Balthasar (restraining him):  Nay, good Mercutio, bite not.

 

Mercutio:  Thy wit is a very bitter sweet; it is a most sharp sauce.

 

Romeo:  And is it not well served to he who embittered it?

 

Mercutio:  Now art thou Romeo; now art
Thou what thou art, by art as well as by nature.

 

Enter Nurse.

 

Nurse:  Romeo, I desire some confidence with thee.

 

Romeo:  Present company demands we go elsewhere for an exchange of words.

 

Mercutio:  No, by all means, let us be the ones to marry courtesy

And excuse ourselves whilst you put on airs for your beloved’s mistress.

 

Exit Mercutio and Balthasar.

 

Nurse:   My young lord bade me inquire you out;

What he bade me say, I will keep to myself:
But first let me say if you should lead him into
A fool's paradise, it would be a very gross
Kind of behavior, for the gentleman is young,
And, therefore, if you should deal double with him….

 

Romeo (interrupting):  Nurse, commend me to thy lord and master.

Bid him devise some means to come this afternoon
To Friar Laurence' cell; there shall we be married.

 

Nurse:  Good heart, I will tell him as much;
Lord, Lord, he will be a joyful lad!

 

Romeo:  It does me well to hear it.  Farewell.

 

Nurse:  God in heaven bless thee!

 

She embraces Romeo heartily.  Once the embrace has ended, Romeo exits.  Shortly thereafter, Nurse goes to exit, but is met by Julien entering.  

 

Julien:  Nurse, what news?  Hast thou met with him?

I could not wait for your return.  What says Romeo of our marriage?

 

Nurse:  Get you hence to Friar Laurence' cell;
There he waits to make you a husband.

 

Julien (embracing nurse):  Honest nurse, farewell.

 

Nurse:  Be well, child.  I pray he warrants your affections.   

 

Julien exits.  Lights down.  In the darkness, the Nurse exits. 

Lights back up again.  Enter Mercutio and Balthasar (carrying their shirts in their hands).

 

Balthasar:  Now, by my life, this day grows wondrous hot.

Some airy devil hovers in the sky and pours down mischief. 

I pray thee, good Mercutio, let's retire:
The day is hot, the Capulets abroad,
And, if we meet, we shall not escape a brawl;
For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.

 

Enter Tybalt  

 

Balthasar:  O, spite, by my head, here comes Tybalt.

 

Mercutio:  O, by my tight ass, I care not.

 

Tybalt:  Montague mongrels, a word with one of you.

 

Mercutio:  If thou but frown on me or stir thy foot,

Or teach thy hasty spleen to do me shame,

I’ll strike thee dead.  Dare to draw thy sword,

And I’ll so maul you and your toasting-iron

That you shall think the devil is come from hell. 

 

Tybalt:  Mercutio, thou consort'st with Romeo—

 

Mercutio:  Consort!  Not I. 

Look toward your cousin, Julien, for he hath usurped that role.

 

Tybalt:  Why if not for that dishonor would I seek the dog?

 

Enter Romeo

 

Tybalt:  Romeo, the hate I bear thee can afford
No better term than this—thou art a villain.

 

Romeo:  Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee
Doth much excuse the appertaining rage
To such a greeting: villain am I none;
Therefore farewell; I see thou know'st me not.

 

Tybalt:  Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries
That thou hast done me; therefore turn and draw.

 

Romeo:  I do protest, I never injured thee,
But love thee better than thou canst devise.

And so, good Capulet—which name I tender
As dearly as my own—be satisfied.

 

Mercutio:  O calm, dishonourable, vile submission! (drawing his sword)

Capulet dog, depart or descend to darkness and the burning lake!

 

Balthashar:  Cut him to pieces!

 

Romeo:  Keep the peace I say!

 

Mercutio:  Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk?

 

Romeo:  Mercutio, put thy rapier up! 

 

Tybalt:  What wouldst thou have with me?

 

Mercutio:  Turn face to face and bloody point to point.

Then, in a moment fortune shall cull forth

Out of one side her happy minion,

To whom in favor she shall give the day,

And kiss him with a glorious victory. 

 

Tybalt (drawing his sword):  Then let confusion of one part confirm

The other’s peace; till then, blows, blood, and death!

 

They fight.  This time, it is a serious affair, with no homoeroticism on Mercutio’s part.   

 

Romeo:  Draw, Balthasar; beat down their weapons!

 

Balthasar:  They are incensed; in the thrall of such madness,

Only Death holds sway to uncross their swords.       

Romeo:  Gentlemen, for shame, forbear this outrage!
Hold, Tybalt!  Mercutio, stay your hand!

 

Mercutio (dueling unabated with Tybalt):

No, I defy all counsel, all redress,

But that which ends all counsel, true redress,

Death, death, o, amiable, lovely death!

Thou odoriferous stench!  Sound rottenness!

Arise forth from the couch of lasting night,

Thou hate and terror to prosperity,

And I will kiss thy detestable bones,

And put my eyeballs in thy vaulty brows,

And ring these fingers with thy household worms,

And stop this gap of breath with fulsome dust,

And be a carrion monster like thyself!

Come, grin on me, and I will think thou smil’st

And have thee as my wife!  Misery’s love,

O, come to me!

 

Romeo pulls Mercutio away from the fight; as Romeo is restraining Mercutio (pulling his arms behind his back), Tybalt stabs the latter in the chest. 

 

Romeo:  (to Tybalt) Dishonorable, shameless villain, his hands were bound!

(to Mercutio) How badly art thou hurt?

 

Mercutio:  (mortally wounding, near death) 

A scratch, a scratch; marry, 'tis enough.

‘Tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-door;

But 'tis enough; 'twill serve. 

Why the devil came you between us?

O, thou didst kill me once, and kill me yet again!

 

Romeo:  Good Mercutio…

 

Mercutio:  The sun that shines from heaven shines but warm;

And, lo, I lie between that sun and thee.

And were I not immortal, life were done

Between this heavenly and earthly sun.

Leave me, and then the story aptly ends.

The night is spent, and now ‘tis dark,

And going, I shall fall.

In night, desire sees best of all.

But if thou fall, o, then imagine this: 

The earth, in love with thee, thy footing trips,

And all is but to rob thee of a kiss.

 

He kisses Romeo and dies in his arms as they are kissing.  Romeo stands and draws his sword. 

 

Romeo:  This day's black fate on more days doth depend;
This but begins the woe, others must end.

Tybalt, alive, in triumph, and Mercutio slain.

Murder, as hating what himself hath done,

Doth lay it open to urge on revenge.

Away to heaven, respective lenity,
And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now!

Now, Tybalt, take the villain back again,
That late thou gavest me; for Mercutio's soul
Is but a little way above our heads,
Staying for thine to keep him company:
Either thou, or I, or both, must go with him.

 

Tybalt:  Thou, wretched boy that didst consort with him, shalt with him hence. 

Thy rage shall burn thee up, and thou shalt turn

To ashes, ere our blood shall quench that fire.

Look to thyself, thou art in jeopardy.

 

Romeo:  Thou slave, thou wretch, thou coward,

This shall determine that!

 

They fight, and Tybalt is killed. 

 

Lights dim (but are not fully extinguished) and turn a reddish tint on Romeo, who is standing in the midst of the corpses.   Spotlight on Julien, who is standing above on his balcony.

 

Julien:  Come, civil night,
Thou sober-suited matron, all in black.
Come, night; come, Romeo; come, thou day in night;
For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night
Whiter than new snow on a raven's back.
Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow'd night,
Give me my Romeo.

 

Balthasar:  Romeo, away, be gone!
Stand not amazed: you will be doomed
If thou art taken: hence, be gone, away!

 

Romeo (falling to his knees):  I am fortune's fool!

 

Lights down; all actors exit, save for Julien.  In the darkness, Nurse calls out. 

 

Nurse:  My lord!

 

Lights up on Julien; Nurse enters seconds thereafter

 

Julien:  Why look’st thou pale?  Why tremblest thou?  What news?

 

Nurse:  This is the bloodiest shame,

The wildest savagery, the vilest stroke,

That ever wall-eyed wrath or staring rage

Presented to the tears of soft remorse.   

We are undone, my lord, we are undone!
He's gone; he's killed; he's dead!

 

Julien:  Can Heaven be so envious?

 

Nurse:  O Romeo, Romeo!  Who ever would have thought it?  Romeo!

 

Julien:  What devil art thou that dost torment me thus?
This torture should be roar'd in dismal hell.
Hath Romeo slain himself?

 

Nurse:  I saw the wound; I saw it with mine eyes.

O Tybalt, that ever I should live to see thee dead!

 

Julien:  Is Romeo slaughtered, and is Tybalt dead?
My dear-loved cousin, and my dearer lord?
Then, dreadful trumpet, sound the general doom!
For who is living, if those two are gone?

 

Nurse:  Tybalt is gone, and Romeo banished.

 

Julien:  O God!  Did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood?

 

Nurse:  It did, it did; alas the day, it did!

If after this night in Verona, Romeo be found,

The world shall not be ransom for his life.  

 

Julien:  The sun is overcast with blood. 

Which is the side that I must grieve withal?

I am with both.  Each army hath a hand

And in their rage, I having hold of both,

They whirl asunder and dismember me. 

 

Nurse:  There's no trust, no faith, no honesty in men;

All perjured, all forsworn, all naught, all dissemblers.
Shame come to Romeo!

 

Julien:  Blistered be thy tongue
For such a wish!  He was not born to shame:
Upon his brow shame is ashamed to sit;
For 'tis a throne where honor may be crowned
Sole monarch of the universal earth.

 

Nurse:  Will you speak well of him that killed your cousin?

 

Julien:  Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?
My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain;
And Tybalt's dead, that would have slain my husband.
Some word there was, worser than Tybalt's death,
That murdered me: I would forget it fain;
But, O, it presses to my memory,
Like damned guilty deeds to sinners' minds:

'Tybalt is dead, and Romeo—banished;'
That 'banished,' that one word 'banished,'
Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt's death
Was woe enough, if it had ended there:
’Banished’, there is no end, no limit, measure, bound,
In that word's death; no words can that woe sound.

 

Enter Romeo.  

 

Julien:  Romeo!

 

Julien embraces him and remains in his arms through this next set of lines.    

 

Romeo:  You are deceived; my substance is not here;

I am but shadow of myself. 

What you see is but the smallest part

And least proportion to humanity.

 

Julien:  My lord, I tell you, were the whole frame here,

It would be of such spacious lofty pitch

This roof were not sufficient to contain it.    

That guilt of murder that weighs upon thee,