Shakespeare Fans discussion

For fans of R&J--I recently became aware of a gorgeously designed and illustrated book called LETTERS TO JULIET by two sisters, Lise and Ceil Friedman. They explore the legend behind the play and the phenomenon of people from all over the world sending letters to Juliet of Verona (sort of like kids writing to Santa at the North Pole) and the Secretaries of Juliet who reply.

Sounds interesting. I've heard that Juliet is second only to Sherlock Holmes (I'm not counting Santa Claus) when it comes to mail addressed to fictional characters. Are you familiar with Elvis Costello's "The Juliet Letters", musical settings based on some of the mail?

I'll have to listen to these musical letters. Thanks. It is rather interesting that the letter writers, both male and female, write to Juliet, not to Romeo, for advice on their love lives.

sounds interesting, and should be read if ur a crazy fan of the play i hope they have this book where am at thanks for the news!

Thank you, R & R, for suggesting Letters to Juliet and The Juliet Letters. Your sharing what you know is an example of why Shakespeare Fans is a superb group.

Rosemary wrote: "For fans of R&J--I recently became aware of a gorgeously designed and illustrated book called LETTERS TO JULIET by two sisters, Lise and Ceil Friedman. They explore the legend behind the play and t..."

This is a beautiful movie as well.

It seems lots of stories follow the basic plot line of Romeo a d Juliet.

Well met, Shakespearegirl!

You're absolutely right. And to take a back a step, Shakespeare himself took the basic plot from an old Italian story. The greatest, of course, is in the execution. Btw, have you ever seen West Side Story, the incredible musical based on R&J?

Francesco da Mosta, in his BBC series 'Shakespeare in Italy' visits the Juliet Club and speaks to the 'Juliets' who answer the letters. It is poignant but ironic that the lovelorn should ask for advice from someone whose only solution to the loss of love was to commit suicide!

Oops...I see now Rosemary you've already posted about this topic...I shall add these comments to this topic...


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message 1: by Candy 3 hours, 49 min ago
What a great story! There are 15 people whow answer letters written to Juliet in Verona...

http://www.northcountrypublicradio.or...

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message 2: by Martin 3 hours, 6 min ago
Yes, and there's a film isn't there? ... I have not seen it, and think it did not do so well.

I went to see "la casa di Giulietta" in 2010, the last foreign holdiay I've taken with my wife, Ruth. The place is quite amusing. The house itself, a museum, is very interesting as a well-preserved mediaeval Tuscan town house, and well worth seeing in its own right. The balcony, fairly clearly, is a later addition. You can write your own love notes and stick them on the walls. The paper is supplied, and the sticking areas carefully controlled. A crowd of young girls were busily writing away. One girl, English and pretty, borrowed a pen off me and was soon busy writing. Wandering around the courtyard, I forgot about the pen, and only got it back because the girl searched after me. I thought afterwards this might have made the good opening of a sentimental romcom if I'd been 30 years younger, single, and looked like Tom Cruise.

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casa_di_...

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message 3: by Candy 15 minutes ago
Yes Martin...that would have made a great opening sequence for a romcom. It's called a "Meetcute".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet_cute

Tom Cruise?

Don't you know nerds and geeks and "the brain" are the hot things girls are looking for in a guy these days. Geek chic.

Nah, it's a story created by nerds and geeks to compensate for the fact that girls go for Tom Cruise types.

Actually, Tom Cruise wouldn't be right here would he? What would be the ideal pair for this romcom? This is not an idle question, we could try selling the idea to hollywood.

Thanks for the "meetcute" ref.

Has anyone seen the official rendition of Romeo and Juliet starring Leonardo DiCaprio?

If you haven't, I won't spoil too much...but the way it was portrayed was just...ugh. I couldn't even watch it! I was half-watching it and half-daydreaming just waiting for it to end -.-

I'll give them credit for using the original text - except that they ADD BITS IN!!

Can they even do that?

God, it made me so angry...It doesn't deserve the right to be made from Shakespeare's beautiful (very memorable) play xx

Erryn_x wrote: "Has anyone seen the official rendition of Romeo and Juliet starring Leonardo DiCaprio?

If you haven't, I won't spoil too much...but the way it was portrayed was just...ugh. I couldn't even watch ..."

I agree with you Erryn. I didn't like it either.

Ohmigosh @Lea , my GCSE drama class have done better renditions x