Dramaturgical

We at Shakespeare’s Associates, proud producers of the Livermore Shakespeare Festival, are busily preparing for our exciting Summer of Love 2010 season, working on casting, design, script studies, and the myriad of other details that are involved in major professional productions.

Our two shows this summer will be Romeo and Juliet, one of Shakespeare’s best-loved plays, and The Real Thing by Sir Tom Stoppard, a Tony Award-winning play hailed by many critics as Stoppard’s best.

Googling Romeo and Juliet results in over 7,000,000 possibilities, a testament to the great popularity of this enduring story but a daunting prospect for internet research.  A good place to start is http://absoluteshakespeare.com/guides/romeo_and_juliet/romeo_and_juliet.htm for a quick study guide, including links to a plot summary as well as detailed descriptions of each act and of the characters.  You can find the Charles and Mary Lamb version for young people at http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/lambtales/ltromeo.htm.  For an interesting comment on tragedy vs comedy in Romeo and Juliet, take a look at http://www.bardweb.net/content/readings/romeo/index.html.

Of course, if you’d rather see and hear this lovely story, Franco Zeffirelli’s gorgeous production of Romeo and Juliet, the most popular Shakespeare film ever made, is available on DVD.

Also available on DVD Shakespeare in Love, which won seven (plus five more for technical achievement) Academy Awards including writing an original screen play awarded to Tom Stoppard and co-writer Marc Norman.  This film treats us to Stoppard’s imaginative – and imagined – version of Shakespeare’s inspiration for Romeo and Juliet, as well as fascinating recreations of Shakespeare’s London and his theater.  You’ll also notice some visual references to the Zefirelli film.

We promise you an engaging and exciting Summer of Love, and believe these resources will help you enjoy our productions to the fullest.  See you at Concannon!

Dramaturg