This play has it all – forbidden love, two young people who fall for each other, but are from two families that are at war with each other. Juliet, a very young, naive and innocent girl, who has had a sheltered upbringing. Romeo, one of the lads, but a pleasant, generally well behaved young man, who falls in love with a different girl almost every week!

They are aided and abetted by two adults who perhaps ought to have known better. The nurse, who has brought Juliet up from being a newborn baby, and who is practically her mother. She loves Juliet, likes Romeo, and is perhaps carried away by the sheer romance of the situation. Friar Lawrence is Romeo’s mentor and spiritual counsellor. He is very fond of the boy and probably does want him to get married in order to reduce the risk of sin. He is a sensible man, and it is interesting that he gets involved in this. As the confessor of all involved, he would be very aware of the consequences of such a match. It may be that he hopes that this may be a way of healing the rift between the two families.

This is not one of the great tragedies. Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth are tragedies of personality. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy of circumstance. If the message had got through then all would have been well. However, this is a love story with a tragic ending, which has reduced audiences to tears ever since it was first performed in the 1590s.