Equally accomplished in histories, tragedies, comedy, and romance, Shakespeare s most famous works include Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, The Taming of the Shrew, and As You Like It. Under the patronage of Queen Elizabeth I, he penned more than 30 plays, 154 sonnets, and numerous narrative poems and short verses. The adaptation is directly in the centuries-old tradition of moving the bard to the audience.Arguably the greatest English-language playwright, William Shakespeare was a seventeenth-century writer and dramatist, and is known as the Bard of Avon. But none of this diminishes a whit the power of Shakespeare's language or plot. Purists would certainly object to his reducing the text by 30 to 40 percent, adroitly stitching together scenes while adhering to original texts and crafting both a brief marriage scene in Friar Laurence's chambers and a funeral for Juliet.

Almost all of the most memorable lines of verse were retained. The adapter did a scrupulous, ethical job of fileting the original text, preserving the story line and the essentials of the characters. This adaptation may be used for free, in part or whole, or modified, for performance or study, even for profit I ask only that you give credit to David Hundsness and where appropriate. The 'unabridged' version shows all cut lines in gray text, so you can easily restore lines and make your own edits while the 'ready to read' version is easier to read. A Wedding Ceremony and Juliet's Funeral are created from cut-and-pasted lines, and some scenes are altered for dramatic impact (all from the original script, of course). Dated references are minimized so the story may be set anytime and anywhere. It is shortened to under two hours, cutting scenes that are typically slow to modern audiences. This is an adapted version of the play using Shakespeare's original language. This script may be downloaded and used for free for education and performance. Side notes included for vocabulary, figurative language, and allusions. Spelling and punctuation are modernized (American) with some indications of pronunciation.

Shakespeare's complete original script based on the Second Quarto of 1599, with corrections and alternate text shown from the First Quarto of 1597, Third Quarto of 1609, Fourth Quarto of 1622, First Folio of 1623, and later editions.

Romeo and juliet short script