Customer Reviews

Romeo and Juliet: BBC Dramatization (BBC Radio Presents)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The beauty of Romeo and Juliet is universal of any edition you choose to buy--- Shakespeare's work is not what is being reviewed here. This edition is different from the other versions available of the same text, because this edition looks at Shakespeare's source, discrepancies in the text, meanings and significance of the imagery, etc. The multitude of footnotes (often taking up more than half the page) makes it ideal for scholars of Shakespeare who need more than just superficial notes. This edition is grossly inadequate for stage use due to the multitude of notes and small text. Buy this edition of the book for a sturdy, reliable and in-depth study of Romeo and Juliet. Look elsewhere for a simple copy of the text.
NOTE: THIS IS A REVIEW FOR THE OXFORD SHAKESPEARE EDITION OF THE PLAY NOT THE RADIO BROADCAST!!!

This radio adaptation is interesting in some ways, but it remains rather short on its objective. The sound universe created behind the voices is rather diminutive. Some voices are not that very accurate : Juliet is rather old-sounding and Romeo is quite late in his twenties at least. Lord Capulet speaks as if he were plain drunk all the time. But what's more some interpretations are defective. The famous sonnet during the dance is just badly done. The tone is wrong. The wit is flattened, etc. The balcony scene is slightly better, luckily. Romeo, by the way, is too much of a hooligan, of an agressive character, not at all in keeping with the world we can vaguely hear behind. Finally there are some cuts and some changes in the text that are not at all justified, such as « pacing » for « passing ». Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Paris Universities II and IX.

I think that this is a great book because it tells you how much two people can really love each other and they gave up their lifes for their love.
I have seen the movie version about Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and still love the book every time I revisit the story. Every word fascinates the reader into truly feeling the passion and tragedy of these two lovers. Even a character such as Tybalt Capulet won me over as far as description goes. Shakespearean writing is very much complex and confusing but it has a touch romance and anger which adds to the emotion of the story.
Is an excellent story for teenagers, read this classic book of love, hate and tragedy!

Romeo and Juliet is an amazing book, about two starcross lovers have never read a book like this one. What attracted me about the story was that they both killed themselves because of the strong love they had.
Kids from the age of 10 to 13 will understand it without any difficulty. The adult's will like this book but not as kids will do. This book has a lot of emotions from the beginning to the end. I think that Shakespeare was inspired when he wrote this book. He would have been inspired with one of his loves or in England's daily life. I think he is the most important English author of time.
I think it's a great book and I recommend it to anyone that likes tragedy books and like's Shakespeare books.

Two teenagers from rival families fall in love, marry secretly, and take their own lives rather than live without each other. Despite the teenage melodrama, "Romeo and Juliet" remains one of Shakespeare's most enduring and popular plays, even if it wasn't his best -- lots of death, teen lovers and enchanting dialogue.

In the city of Verona, the Montagues and Capulets are locked in a deadly feud. Then a Montague teen named Romeo, infatuated with a Capulet girl named Rosaline, sneaks into a party to see her.... but instead encounters another Capulet girl named Juliet, and the two immediately fall in love. Since their families hate each other, their love must be expressed in secret.

Hoping to unite the two families, the kindly priest Friar Lawrence assists the two in marrying in secret. But then Juliet's cousin Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel, leading to the death of two men -- and Romeo's exile from Verona. Even worse, the Capulets have decided to marry Juliet to Count Paris -- leading to a desperate plan that goes horribly awry.

"Romeo and Juliet" is a play that is hard to pin down -- some see it as the poetry-laden embodiment of romantic love, while others view it as Shakespeare's witty jabs at fickle teenage infatuation and how melodramatic the kids are (Juliet is only thirteen!). But whatever you think it is, it's undeniable that it's a beautifully written, often-wrenching story.

Despite the simplicity of the story, Shakespeare spins it in a silken web of lush poetry ("O swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon/That monthly changes in her circled orb") and the famous speeches where Romeo and Juliet speak at night on a balcony. The mostly romantic play takes a dark turn towards the end, when only a few minutes might have changed the fates of "Juliet and her Romeo."

And Shakespeare seems rather fond of his characters here, depicting Romeo as a passionate young boy and Juliet as rather sweetly insecure young girl; there's also a fairly good cast of young men whose spirits are more elevated than their brains, and the kindly friar who rather naively hopes to use the kids to create peace.

But Shakespeare was also clearly aware that passionate teenage love is not necessarily the truest love ("Young men's love then lies/Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes"), and leaves you wondering what might have happened if Romeo and Juliet had lived.

Whether a gentle mockery of young love or a passionate, idealized romance, "Romeo and Juliet" is a timeless and lovely little play. Not the best of the Bard, but still quite good.

I have this recording on audio cassette, and I was very excited to find the same version on CD. However, after a month of waiting, I still have not received my order. I was not notified by the company in any way that the order had been back-ordered, but they certainly did not hesitate to go on and take the money out of my bank account. I thought that normally when items were backordered, they waited to charge your account once the product was en route. I only discovered the backordered status after I contacted the company to ask where my order was located. I am sure that if I ever receive the product I will be quite pleased with it, but I am incredibly impatient, and I would have at least liked to have received a courtesy email detailing the delay. I don't think that is too much to ask.

Romeo & Juliet takes place in Verona in Feudal times. In that times women weren't given any rights. They couldn't hold property or discuss with their husband. This is shown during the whole book. Another thing different from nowadays was the language. Shakespeare uses a language, which I can't understand. So, in some parts were I don't know what a word means, the book becomes boring. Shakespeare, in a way, wrote female characters more intelligent and reflective than male, which in those times, women were objects. The story has different little stories in it. For example; the quarrel between the Capulet's gang and the Montague's; the impossible love between Romeo and Juliet; the trouble that Romeo has in Verona after killing Tybalt; Juliet has to marry Paris but she doesn't want and discusses bravely against her father; these make the story more interesting and it attracts the reader until the end.

The book's content is incredible. It has all elements an excellent drama piece should have. Suspense, love, romance, action, everything is included in this book. The only feedbacks are the ancient english it is written in. Anyway, I would say like it wouldn't 'stick' with modern english.
The plot is somewhat boring at first. The action begins when Romeo falls in love with Juliet, and Tybalt discovers it. In the climax, there is intense, non-stop action, when Romeo's Friar gives a sleeping potion to Juliet so she can escape from marrying, but Romeo has not heard about it. This great tragedy ends with the suicide of these two. It is a great book and I really recommend it for young and adults.

This book is one of the most interesting books I've ever read. Why do i say this? Because it has everything like: the romance, the passion, the hate and the death, which is a good way to inspirit the reader. Shakespeare knows how to fit several feelings in the same play.
Romeo & Juliet fall in love at first sight,but they could not stay together for a long time because their families were enemies from centuries ago, who were the Capulets and the Montagues. After few days, the were married secretly by a monk called Friar Lawrence. But WAIT! there was a problem...Juliet was gonig to marry a guy called Paris. As Juliet was also married with Romeo, she could not marry Paris. Because of this, Friar Lawrence offers Juliet to take a poison that will make her sleep very deeply, and by this was she was going to seem death, unfortunately, Romeo did not recieved this message. As a result, he thought tha Juliet was dead, and he commited suicide. When Juliet woke up, she realized that her lover was dead and she also commited suicide. Finally, both families realized that they should stay in peace.
From our point of view, we think that this book was marvellous, but it should not ended up in this way.

We think this is a very good book. It has a lot of elements that different people would like. It shows how the hate of some persons, can hurt others, and, in this case, kill each other.
It helps people to accept the reality, and to see things how they really are.
Although the book is very interesting, it may confuse younger lectors. Very young children may not understand it easily. And the vocabulary is, sometimes, very difficult to understand.
There are quite a lot of details that may bore some readers, and a lot of characters, which may be confusing.
So, in conclusion we recommend that just older people should read it.