Romeo and Juliet

In an alternative version of Act V Scene III, the Doctor, Amy and Rory rush to prevent Romeo from poisoning himself over Juliet's lifeless body. (PROSE: The True and Most Excellent Comedie of Romeo and Juliet)

Romeo and Juliet was a play written by William Shakespeare. It was also the name of its two main characters, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet.

History

Inspirations

According to a publication which published much of the Shakespeare Notebooks, it was "generally agreed" that Shakespeare took the poem The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet by Arthur Brook as its main inspiration. The play as it was reproduced in Quarto and Folio closely followed the narrative of the poem, using the same character names and the same ending, with the deaths of both Romeo and Juliet. (PROSE: The True and Most Excellent Comedie of Romeo and Juliet)

Drafts

A handwritten first draft of Romeo and Juliet came to be held by the Palace Theatrical Museum in London. Lucas Seyton stole it in August 1937. (PROSE: The Shadow of Weng-Chiang)

The Shakespeare Notebooks contained as one of its longest pieces an earlier and somewhat lighter draft of Romeo and Juliet. The non-fiction book which reprinted it stated it "appear[ed]" that under pressure from James Burbage to "make dark tragedie light", Shakespeare prepared a second version of the play with a happy ending, which he dubbed "the story as it did truly unfold, by misfortune unmarred". This turned the play, which was already highly comic for its first three acts, into an out-and-out comedy. This alternative version added a trio comprising of the Doctor, Amy, and Rory, who could travel great distances in seconds thanks to a blue box called the TARDIS. These new characters were clearly based upon the Eleventh Doctor and his companions Amy Pond and Rory Williams.

In Act IV Scene III of this draft, the Doctor and his friends arrived in Juliet's bedroom and attempted to stop her from drinking a sleeping draught which made her appear lifeless. They entered just too late, with the Doctor calling out to her as she fell upon her bed. With nothing more to do and fearing the consequences should they be found with Juliet's body, they swiftly left.

In Act V Scene I, an apothecary in Mantua sold Romeo a vial of poison which he intended to use to commit suicide, having heard of Juliet's "death". The Doctor, Amy, and Rory, arrived moments too late once again and were unable to prevent him from buying the vial. Instead, they spoke to the apothecary, who was initially unwilling to answer questions regarding Romeo's whereabouts. However, the Doctor gave him some gold, persuading him to tell them that Romeo was headed directly to the Capulet tomb to lie with his love. The trio immediately set off again, bound for the tomb in Verona. (PROSE: The True and Most Excellent Comedie of Romeo and Juliet)

In Act V Scene III, the Doctor, Amy, and Rory arrived in time to stop Romeo from drinking his poison and were able to convince him that Juliet was merely feigning death. Romeo awoke her with a kiss and the two shared a brief reunion. Juliet suggested leaving Verona to start a new life with Romeo but the Doctor vetoed this idea, telling them they had to help heal the rift between their feuding families. He then revealed doubles of Romeo and Juliet, a Sontaran clone and a Teselecta respectively, which then took up positions on the tomb's altar as if they had chosen to kill themselves. Romeo and Juliet's fathers, Montague and Capulet, as well as their mothers and Juliet's nurse, came to mourn their loved ones after the death scene had been discovered by the Chief of Verona's watch. The two patriarchs immediately vowed to end their conflict as per their offspring's wishes. The Doctor emerged from the TARDIS at this point, where everyone had been hiding out of sight, and revealed that the bodies were not those of Romeo and Juliet. He came under instant suspicion but his claim was substantiated when they also exited the TARDIS. A short celebration then ensued but Romeo noted his remorse for the deaths of Tybalt and Paris by his sword tarnished their joy. As a final "small surprise" the Doctor announced that they also lived; the Paris slain by Romeo was a Nestene duplicate while the living Tybalt was secretly a Zygon who owed the Doctor a favour. Paris stated he longed for Juliet no more and had found love with Rosaline, prompting Friar Laurence to disclose his "secret love" for the Nurse, feelings which she reciprocated. With all the couples "set to wed", and telling his friends "their work [was] done", it was the Doctor who closed the play in this alternative draft. He stated that though it was often said "no tale could hope to overset the love of Romeo for Juliet, never was there a more joyful story than that of Amy Pond and her dear Rory". (PROSE: The True and Most Excellent Comedie of Romeo and Juliet)

Performances and adaptations

With the Doctor, Amy, and Rory absent for the version as performed, the play became a tragedy. They were not present in the Capulet tomb to dissuade Romeo from poisoning himself which meant he was successful in ending his own life. This resulted in Juliet awaking from her slumber to find him dead and using Romeo's dagger to also commit suicide in response to this revelation. This also meant the excision of the twist involving the survivals of Tybalt and Paris, with the only logical conclusion being that Romeo did slay the definite articles in this rendition of the play. (PROSE: The True and Most Excellent Comedie of Romeo and Juliet)

On 17 January 1605, the real Amy Pond and Rory Williams went to see a performance of Romeo and Juliet at the Globe Theatre as part of their honeymoon. In a postcard to the Eleventh Doctor, Amy described it as "v. romantic (even though London theatre audiences stink and the play ends with loads of death)". They also met Shakespeare but were arrested by James I when he turned up and found out they knew the Doctor. (PROSE: Honeymoon Horrors)

In 1866, Henry Gordon Jago auditioned for the role of Romeo at the Alhambra Theatre. (AUDIO: The Year of the Bat)

According to the Sixth Doctor, in the early days of television, the BBC solved the problem surrounding the difficulties of maintaining a clear picture by shooting such productions as Romeo and Juliet in a Snowstorm. During the balcony scene, Juliet asked "Where the devil art thou Romeo?". This was a genuine question as the couple found themselves in the middle of a thick blizzard. (COMIC: The (Final) Doctor Who History Tour)

In 1953, Adrian Cooper played Romeo in David Owen's film adaptation of the play. Cooper refused to allow any character he played to show weakness which resulted in him demanding script rewrites. This ensured that he "not only lived, but ended up getting the girl". (PROSE: Swamp of Horrors (1957) - Viewing Notes)

In the early days of the City of the Saved, the news was full of romantic stories about couples tearfully reunited after death and resuming their lost relationships. BardCorp's Romeo and Juliet, one of their first hits, was edited to fit this theme, with a wedding scene for Romeo and Juliet part of a newly-added Act VI. Francis Bacon claimed to have been the actual writer of Mercutio's "famously bawdy" best man's speech. (PROSE: The Smallest Spark)

References

While a captive of Saladin in 1190, Barbara Wright briefly became his storyteller. The works of Shakespeare were first on her list of tales which she felt might divert and entertain Saladin. She considered Hamlet "too difficult to put across" but thought that Romeo and Juliet "seemed an excellent blend of drama and romance". Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Crusaders) as well as Gulliver's Travels and Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales, were other candidates in her mind. (TV: The Crusade)

Lucie Miller compared Kalkin and Sararti to Romeo and Juliet. When Tayden asked if that was good, Lucie replied "Er - actually, no, come to think of it". (AUDIO: Immortal Beloved)

While on Zeta Minor, the Fourth Doctor quoted a line from Romeo and Juliet. (TV: Planet of Evil)

The Eleventh Doctor once misquoted lines from the play. (AUDIO: The Evolving Dead)

Behind the scenes

• Many of the period costumes seen in The Masque of Mandragora were first used in Renato Castellani's 1954 feature film production of Romeo and Juliet.
• The title of the audio story He Jests at Scars... is a reference to the line "He jests at scars that never felt a wound" from Romeo and Juliet Act 2, Scene 2.
• Clive Swift, Keith Skinner, Patrick Ryecart, Esmond Knight, David Sibley, Jacqueline Hill, Vernon Dobtcheff, John Savident, Bunny Reed and Jeremy Young have all worked on film productions of Romeo and Juliet.