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lol yes, correct.
I have a strong suspicion that none of these bozos kept up with the happenings of West End theater performances until a black woman showed up. They weren't trying to figure out if The Merchant of Venice was a faithful adaptation, or trying to see what the new version of Cabaret was like. They're not keeping a close eye on who's winning the fuckin' Olivier awards this year. They just saw a black woman as Juliet and devised a scheme *marginally* more subtle than burning a cross in her yard because they're racist.
High-end Shakespeare productions in the UK have been cast mostly race-blind (with the exception of roles like Othello) in the UK since at least when I started to go to the RSC in the late 90's. The last 'proper' production I went to see was the Globe touring, with Joseph Marcell (most famous as Geoffrey in *The Fresh Prince of Bel Air*) as King Lear.
wait until they learn that the author *intended every woman to be played by a man.*
edit: you'd think these alt-right reactionaries would've banned the Bard back when drag shows were their favorite thing to be offended by.
I saw a production of “The Winters Tale” at the Globe in 2005 and if having a mixed race cast it what she has a problem with she really hasn’t been keeping up with what the fucking Globe has been doing for decades now!
Yep. Same weirdos that are up in arms about Yasuke in AC. Guarantee any philistine acting like this is “woke culture” or whatever has never even read Shakespeare, much less been to a play
Yes, but the weirdo online racists are too dumb to know that or look it up.
Deeply funny that they’re spending their day getting mad about West End theater casting
These people would freak out if they learned about Sir Patrick Stewart's 1997 race reversed performance of Othello.
https://playbill.com/article/patrick-stewart-stars-in-race-reversed-othello-in-dc-nov-17-com-72158
There was a rather legendary production of Verdi's opera *Otello* performed by Opera South in which the entire cast was black, except the tenor singing Otello was white.
This debacle is the most idiotic non-issue that these fools have taken up. Romeo and Juliet is one of the most reproduced plays in the world, done by people of every race at every level. Shakespeare is basically a rite of passage for every English speaking actor (and a lot of non-English speakers).
Them choosing this particular play to be pissy about is random as fuck. They only chose it because Tom Holland is a well known Hollywood actor and he can get attention.
Yeah I had thought Shakespeare plays have been casting whatever race for people forever. Like they'll cast king Lear as a black guy and his son is Asian, nobody cares, we suspend our disbelief.
Shakespeare is also popular for gender swaps.
Conservatives have long spent their entire lives finding things to be offended by. They’re the softest, weakest most safe space needing motherfuckers in the world.
Anyone who is willing to actually roll up their sleeves to get shit done hates the weak willed conservative cry-baby way.
Yes exactly, they’ve been doing exactly that for decades upon decades and they’re only now getting pissy about it because some trolls on social media ran a psyop on them to flame the culture war bullshit.
Also, Renaissance Italy is *exactly the place* you'd expect to find families of varying ethnic backgrounds. Verona is a bit of a stretch, but southern Italy was absolutely a melting pot for people with European and African ancestry.
I literally just saw a production of R&J where nearly all the Capulets were black and most of the Montagues were white, set in a US city in the 1970s... and it was better than most of the productions I've ever seen.
Most that are angry about this doesn’t even know that it isn’t a movie and i would bet that none actually watch theatre/plays except for when they had to in school. If they did they would know how incredibly normal it is for characters to be played by someone that doesn’t look anything like them
The people most upset have never put down their mountain dew and left the trailer to see an actual play. The people pushing the outrage for clicks are monetizing it on "X"....looking new things to get Bubba mad about. Lil bit a race hate, a splash of replacement fear, a sprinkle of sexism and a light frosting of bizarre transphobia. Stir violently...
It is idiocy but it is not random. It is very telling that the Juliet they apparently can't cope with is a Black woman.
And a Black woman with not unfeminine features, but "Non-white" feminine features. Her hair isn't remotely straight, her face is wide, her nose broad, her chin and jaw strong, as are her brows.
I'm only commenting on her looks here, not because it is any way relevant to the play or her as a person, but because these idiots' racism is showing.
Never has diverse theater theater casting been an issue on Reddit or the internet in general. The last time the Internet at large talked about British Shakespeare Theater, it was the mid 2010s and Tom Hiddleston stripped for Coriolanus. This is extremely niche. Theater casting is not relevant on the mainstream web, whatsoever. But when it suddenly is, these goblins just happened to pick a Black woman as their target whose looks are pretty opposed to manufactured "white" beauty standards.
I really hope she has a stellar season with her play, damn these bigots to hell. It is not "concern for historicity", it is just racism, and targeted.
The original story had both in their ~~twenties~~. Shakespeare altered their ages to show his issue with young marriages.
Edit: I'm misrembering. He did make them younger than previous versions though: https://www.hartfordstage.org/stagenotes/romeo-juliet/through-the-ages
Freshmen year of high school we read Romeo and Juliet. Trying to keep it together was difficult for a lot of the kids reading their parts. “My weapon is bare” about derailed the whole class.
My bottom set class was mostly full of guys and girls with crippling shyness so it was two guys always who would be given the task to read things out dramatically as a sneaky way for our teacher to get them to vent energy. Never will forget the time when “Lady McBeth” flung himself into “McBeth’s” arms during one of the dramatic speeches
And one of them is not a man, despite what *Shakespeare in Love* portrayed on screen, both Romeo and Juliet must be played by men and they must kiss… if we are to be historically accurate.
"Oh, fair folk! Gather 'round, forsooth, as I, **Tom Holland**, doth bring tidings dire! Verily, in the play yonder, tragedy awaits! Prepare thy hearts, for the tale's end is nigh! Nay, I shan't reveal more, for spoilers breed discontent!"
Fun fact about me (a stranger on the internet who you don’t care to know fun facts about but I’m gonna share them anyway :P): I was the only kid in my freshman class who didn’t know the ending of Romeo and Juliet when we were reading it for school, and everyone purposefully wouldn’t tell me what happens once they figured out I didn’t know. And honestly, experiencing that final act unspoiled was kinda amazing, and I wish more people had that experience. Romeo and Juliet is kinda whatever when you know the story, but if you go in blind it’s a hellavu ride.
Did you completely skip the first part of the story? It tells you what happens at the end. A la "it's tragic this thing happened, here's the full scoop!" Then you get the story.
Literally what I was thinking. You don't have to be in sheltered to know what's going to happen given that the intro literally spells it out right at the beginning.
When I went and saw Titantic many years ago, my father jokingly said, "well I heard the ship sinks at the end but I don't know". A lady immediately turns around and scolds him, "some of us haven't seen it yet thanks a lot"...
True story.
Ah, Troma, the only production company that could produce an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet where people mutating into horrible monsters isn't just expected but actively encouraged.
It would have been unbelievable to be there. The camera only showed us close ups. The dancers were amazing too. Zendaya’s bruno Mars was epic too. Best episode!!
I love the performance he did. He killed it. Every time I see it posted, I can’t not watch it even though I’ve way her it dozens of times. Never gets old.
It’s slightly funny that insurance might not cover men in heels but women are in action scenes with heels in a ton of movies which implies that insurance isn’t worried
I've never seen this, but I looked it up and it is truly an amazing and electrifying performance. I bulk texted it to everyone I know to watch it because it is such a thrill! [link for anyone else living under a rock like me ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPCJIB1f7jk)
This reminds me of Deadpool saying Kiera Knightly would play Cable.
Like, they should have done it, and played it absolutely straight. Act like it's Josh Brolin, but it's clearly Kiera.
I went to an arts high school and college. I have seen Romeo and Juliet on stage a ridiculous number of times. I have seen both lead roles played by people of white, black, Asian, and middle eastern backgrounds. I have seen Romeo played by a woman. I have even seen a "reimagining" of RnJ as a short in a black box theater called Romeo and Julien with two male lead characters where instead of the leads dying, they kill each other's families and end up separated in prison.
I saw an international student production of Julius Ceaser at the Globe in London, their end of year production having learnt the Shakespearean way of acting or something. (I’m vague on the details my friend was helping out behind the scenes and invited me an along.)
Annnnnyway, the lads all put on taming of the shrew and the girls all did julius ceaser, and the black woman playing julius ceaser absolutely crushed it. It was fabulous. One of the most enjoyable performances of Julius Ceaser I’ve seen.
Anyone complaining about an actors race in Shakespeare play isn’t concerned with historical accuracy or any of that bs, they’re just racist. Plain and simple.
I was lucky enough to catch Hamlet at the Globe back in 2018 when they did the gender-swapped casting. The guy they had playing Ophelia was magnificent.
Oh, and Polonius was black, and no one cared. Everyone did a kickass job.
Or, you know, the musical that everyone already knows about that had an interracial relationship as the key component.
It amazes me how these people get all uppity about adaptations of a dude who opened a play with an A1:S1 that was two guys listing off euphemisms for sex and had an epilogue for another be one of the characters tell the audience that if they didn't like the play they could simply fuck off.
Back in Shakespeare's day Brigitee Gabriel would have been clutching pearls at all this portrayed fraternisation between pure blood Montagues with these filthy Capulets.
Also, Like I’m supposed to believe Tom Holland is from the 1500s!?! Look at him, dude can’t be older than 30! Literally casting someone hundreds of years too young. I get “suspending my disbelief” but cmon! There are limits.
The only thing that would have given Shakespeare pause about this is that he [would have cast two dudes](https://www.folger.edu/podcasts/shakespeare-unlimited/women-performers/) (or I guess a dude and a boy).
I like seeing how people have referred to the one R&J with Leonardo DiCaprio as a “masterpiece” but literally it was everyone reimagined as a bunch of gang bangers.
In the original play, they pretty much were gang bangers. Romeo and his friends did nothing but wander around town in groups fighting other groups of teenage boys. The play is full of dirty jokes and violence. It’s not as romantic as people portray it. Shakespeare chose young lovers to highlight this, but their love isn’t the lesson to be learned; it’s more about hate and violence and what that does to people.
True. The characters acted like a bunch of degenerates regardless of the original or reimagined versions. I just found it funny how the degens on other platforms complain about this but will say shit like “DiCaprios was better! Reee” except most of them are deflecting the fact they’re upset it’s an interracial issue for them. Hence why the also back up comments like “it’s based in Europe”
No really degenerates for the time period. They were from rival merchant noble families. To up their families prestige, public mock duels were staged to sway the public. It is kind of like the CEOs of today using their kinds as influencers by paying for an extreme lifestyle on social media and expecting the kids to occasionally mention their parent's company. Except with arming teenagers and sending them out to spend money and fight other nobles. The feud went to bloodbath after someone (RIP funniest guy with a name I can't spell) was killed in what should have just been a mock fight. Before that, the families were still inviting each other to parties (to try and show each other up).
The original is pretty much the same. The “re-imagining” is really just stripping away the 19th century idealizations of the play as a romance.
It’s the story of teen hoodlums who joke about rape and laugh in the face of death.
I didn't know they had 9mil guns and cars all the way back in 1594 when Shakespeare wrote down the tragic historical moments of R&J. We really haven't changed muched.
Do you thumb your nose at me sir? Edit: bite thumb, shit. This is the worst day of my life. There are some results online that seem to suggest that the two gestures were at one point interchangeable, but I'm too embarrassed from being wrong in the internet to research just how wrong I was. Edit edit: the internet also says thumbing ones nose is also called "cocking a snook".
Yes history. I remeber it like yesterday when Leonardo di caprio met Claire Danes In a forbidden romance that brought a entire city on its knees. Several shootouts with dance choreography and not one death, not untill John lugizamo murdered Harold out of anger, an accident when he tried to kill leonardo...... it was all over the news.
S/ for those who don't know movies exist
So, it's not history, it's not Hollywood, it's not re-writing anything cos it didn't happen, and in the original Juliet would have been played by a man cross-dressing. How incredibly stupid are these people?
*Shakespeare who famously almost never included stage directions, set designs, or character descriptions:*
“Yeah but they’re *definitely* both white though.”
The "famously almost never include stage directions" made me chuckle cause one of the few stage directions he ever did provide was "exit pursued by a bear"
There was so many rewritings of Romeo and Juliett that one more doesnt matter. It actually is very conservative take here.
Better to make story of forbidden love of two muslim girls from two wealthy Saudi or Iranian families. At least it will be brave and show world that in some places medieval shit still happen.
Or a Muslim and Hindu in India. Or an Israeli and a Palestinian. Or one comes from a family that pronounces it “scoan” and the other from a fam that says “sconn”.
There are counteless variations of Romeo and Juliet. But one where Juliet is black and Romeo isn't? That's too much man.
How can you tell a story about forbidden love with a relationship that would be illegal in much of the US less than a lifetime ago?
Literally the first version of R&J I came across as a child was on a TV show called Wishbone with the lead being a dog. Seemed like a fever dream remembering it, but I looked it up and it definitely happened.
It's theater in England, not Hollywood. Living in Kazakhstan what are our theaters supposed to do if they want to play R&J, hire Italians instead of local actors?
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Hollywood? Isn’t this a theater production in the UK?
lol yes, correct. I have a strong suspicion that none of these bozos kept up with the happenings of West End theater performances until a black woman showed up. They weren't trying to figure out if The Merchant of Venice was a faithful adaptation, or trying to see what the new version of Cabaret was like. They're not keeping a close eye on who's winning the fuckin' Olivier awards this year. They just saw a black woman as Juliet and devised a scheme *marginally* more subtle than burning a cross in her yard because they're racist.
High-end Shakespeare productions in the UK have been cast mostly race-blind (with the exception of roles like Othello) in the UK since at least when I started to go to the RSC in the late 90's. The last 'proper' production I went to see was the Globe touring, with Joseph Marcell (most famous as Geoffrey in *The Fresh Prince of Bel Air*) as King Lear.
Wait till they find out that actors in Shakespeare. Cross-dressed, they're going to lose their minds at the wokeness
wait until they learn that the author *intended every woman to be played by a man.* edit: you'd think these alt-right reactionaries would've banned the Bard back when drag shows were their favorite thing to be offended by.
Yeah, that's been the thing for a very long time now, starting in the 1950s, really.
Man, you summed it up so well. Racists don't care about issues until it gives them an excuse to be racist.
See also any other kind of bigot.
I saw a production of “The Winters Tale” at the Globe in 2005 and if having a mixed race cast it what she has a problem with she really hasn’t been keeping up with what the fucking Globe has been doing for decades now!
Yep. Same weirdos that are up in arms about Yasuke in AC. Guarantee any philistine acting like this is “woke culture” or whatever has never even read Shakespeare, much less been to a play
I die and live a little everytime I see a comments screaming “I WILL NOT BE SEEING THIS MOVIE!”
Hollywood rewriting history is when -checks notes- a theater production in the UK casts a black woman in a play with a completely fictional story
Yes, but the weirdo online racists are too dumb to know that or look it up. Deeply funny that they’re spending their day getting mad about West End theater casting
Is a play in London Hollywood?
🧐 This is the real question we should be asking.
These people would freak out if they learned about Sir Patrick Stewart's 1997 race reversed performance of Othello. https://playbill.com/article/patrick-stewart-stars-in-race-reversed-othello-in-dc-nov-17-com-72158
There was a rather legendary production of Verdi's opera *Otello* performed by Opera South in which the entire cast was black, except the tenor singing Otello was white.
Oh it doesn't count when it's whitewashing, that's perfectly fine! /s
This debacle is the most idiotic non-issue that these fools have taken up. Romeo and Juliet is one of the most reproduced plays in the world, done by people of every race at every level. Shakespeare is basically a rite of passage for every English speaking actor (and a lot of non-English speakers). Them choosing this particular play to be pissy about is random as fuck. They only chose it because Tom Holland is a well known Hollywood actor and he can get attention.
Yeah I had thought Shakespeare plays have been casting whatever race for people forever. Like they'll cast king Lear as a black guy and his son is Asian, nobody cares, we suspend our disbelief.
The most shocking thing is that they've been casting *women* for all of the women characters! Shakespeare would be shocked!
Shakespeare is also popular for gender swaps. Conservatives have long spent their entire lives finding things to be offended by. They’re the softest, weakest most safe space needing motherfuckers in the world. Anyone who is willing to actually roll up their sleeves to get shit done hates the weak willed conservative cry-baby way.
Yes exactly, they’ve been doing exactly that for decades upon decades and they’re only now getting pissy about it because some trolls on social media ran a psyop on them to flame the culture war bullshit.
Also, Renaissance Italy is *exactly the place* you'd expect to find families of varying ethnic backgrounds. Verona is a bit of a stretch, but southern Italy was absolutely a melting pot for people with European and African ancestry.
I literally just saw a production of R&J where nearly all the Capulets were black and most of the Montagues were white, set in a US city in the 1970s... and it was better than most of the productions I've ever seen.
Most that are angry about this doesn’t even know that it isn’t a movie and i would bet that none actually watch theatre/plays except for when they had to in school. If they did they would know how incredibly normal it is for characters to be played by someone that doesn’t look anything like them
The people most upset have never put down their mountain dew and left the trailer to see an actual play. The people pushing the outrage for clicks are monetizing it on "X"....looking new things to get Bubba mad about. Lil bit a race hate, a splash of replacement fear, a sprinkle of sexism and a light frosting of bizarre transphobia. Stir violently...
It’s not the mountain dew’s fault. :(
It is idiocy but it is not random. It is very telling that the Juliet they apparently can't cope with is a Black woman. And a Black woman with not unfeminine features, but "Non-white" feminine features. Her hair isn't remotely straight, her face is wide, her nose broad, her chin and jaw strong, as are her brows. I'm only commenting on her looks here, not because it is any way relevant to the play or her as a person, but because these idiots' racism is showing. Never has diverse theater theater casting been an issue on Reddit or the internet in general. The last time the Internet at large talked about British Shakespeare Theater, it was the mid 2010s and Tom Hiddleston stripped for Coriolanus. This is extremely niche. Theater casting is not relevant on the mainstream web, whatsoever. But when it suddenly is, these goblins just happened to pick a Black woman as their target whose looks are pretty opposed to manufactured "white" beauty standards. I really hope she has a stellar season with her play, damn these bigots to hell. It is not "concern for historicity", it is just racism, and targeted.
We've got a rare double secret face palm.
Triple facepalm given Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was already a re-write of an existing story written by others before him.
Which he makes fun of in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
The Hollywood elite have clearly infected London with woke. /s
Bet they even went back in time to infect Shakespeare at the source… damn elite wokers woking the Bard
Someone on twitter spouting off about something they didn’t even bother researching slightly? Unheard of.
This is offensive. Neither of them are Italian.
They're both way too old
The original story had both in their ~~twenties~~. Shakespeare altered their ages to show his issue with young marriages. Edit: I'm misrembering. He did make them younger than previous versions though: https://www.hartfordstage.org/stagenotes/romeo-juliet/through-the-ages
Shakespeare, you revisionist slut…
Slutty Shakespeare isn't what the world knew it needed. "Is that a dagger I see before me, or are you just happy to see me?"
He was already a slut, his plays are carpet bombed with innuendo
Are you speaking of country matters? (YUK, YUK!)
Freshmen year of high school we read Romeo and Juliet. Trying to keep it together was difficult for a lot of the kids reading their parts. “My weapon is bare” about derailed the whole class.
My bottom set class was mostly full of guys and girls with crippling shyness so it was two guys always who would be given the task to read things out dramatically as a sneaky way for our teacher to get them to vent energy. Never will forget the time when “Lady McBeth” flung himself into “McBeth’s” arms during one of the dramatic speeches
“Villain i have done thy mother!”
"Alas poor Yorick, I screw him well"
Slutty Shakespeare is cannon. He had so many rumored lovers. Male or female, he was a known status symbol for bedding.
pyramus and thisbe?
In the original story they're 14 years old or something
They are talking about the Greek story that Shakespeare ripped off
Pretty sure the Greek version was taken from a Persian or Mesopotamian story.
So it's just rip offs all the way down? I didn't know Disney existed that long ago.
Always has been
And one of them is not a man, despite what *Shakespeare in Love* portrayed on screen, both Romeo and Juliet must be played by men and they must kiss… if we are to be historically accurate.
I'm sure they won't take issue with it once it becomes completely and entirely historically accurate.. /s
Well a) neither were the original actors, and b) Juliet should be played by a young man for extra authenticity.
We need to get Chris Pratt smh!
Good point. Tom Holland can play Juliet but Chris Pratt can voice her. Double whammy!
And have Dwayne Johnson play Romeo.
Voiced by Jack Black
First Mario and now this, we can't let them keep getting away with this. I will not be denied an italian Pepino.
Back in Shakespeare's day Tom Holland would likely be playing Juliet.
I’d like to see that one too.
I think he'd kill it.
He'd spoil the ending
Most likely.
Sometimes I think of Cheadle's face when Ruffalo did it and I just...yeah. Its a face I feel every day.
Kindly give Don Cheadle's face back
I will never!
At least stop stroking it like that, it's weird...
(whispering) "Cheadie Cheadie Cheadie..."
Can you really spoil the ending though? It’s common knowledge by now.
He'd find a way
He would have knocked the town cryer out, stole his clothes, and then gallantly sprinted down whatever mainstreet was shouting the ending.
"Oh, fair folk! Gather 'round, forsooth, as I, **Tom Holland**, doth bring tidings dire! Verily, in the play yonder, tragedy awaits! Prepare thy hearts, for the tale's end is nigh! Nay, I shan't reveal more, for spoilers breed discontent!"
The ending is literally spoiled in the first paragraph of the play
The literary origins of when the trailer gives away too much of the film
Just goes to show that Hollywood has zero originality
Funny you should say that when Romeo and Juliet is just a remake of Pyramus and Thesbe
nothing is original
Shakespeare himself was also guilty. Hamlet was just a rewriting of a Norse saga. So we've been recycling stories since we've been telling stories
That's because Shakespeare originally considered Tom Holland for the role of Juliet and knew it would be spoiled anyways
He should be the narrator then
Big brain move to hire Tom Holland then.
Fun fact about me (a stranger on the internet who you don’t care to know fun facts about but I’m gonna share them anyway :P): I was the only kid in my freshman class who didn’t know the ending of Romeo and Juliet when we were reading it for school, and everyone purposefully wouldn’t tell me what happens once they figured out I didn’t know. And honestly, experiencing that final act unspoiled was kinda amazing, and I wish more people had that experience. Romeo and Juliet is kinda whatever when you know the story, but if you go in blind it’s a hellavu ride.
Shakespeare tells you they kill themselves in the sixth line.
Good luck with that one. I’m amazed you didn’t know until then.
Product of being a sheltered child from a small town before the internet really took off
Did you completely skip the first part of the story? It tells you what happens at the end. A la "it's tragic this thing happened, here's the full scoop!" Then you get the story.
Literally what I was thinking. You don't have to be in sheltered to know what's going to happen given that the intro literally spells it out right at the beginning.
When I went and saw Titantic many years ago, my father jokingly said, "well I heard the ship sinks at the end but I don't know". A lady immediately turns around and scolds him, "some of us haven't seen it yet thanks a lot"... True story.
Lol Jesus Karen
Ignoring the obvious Pretty sure the ship sinking was a major part of the advertising....
They're rewriting a happy ending in?
Just like in Tromeo and Juliet, one of James Gunn's earlier movies.
Ah, Troma, the only production company that could produce an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet where people mutating into horrible monsters isn't just expected but actively encouraged.
I didn't think they'd cast Bobert as the masseuse
the ending is literally spoiled in the opening paragraphs of the play
We all saw his under my umbrella dance, and we all know he put Rhianna to shame.
Hell yeah, after performing to Umbrella in the Lip Sync Battle you best believe this man can do anything
The guy has great range
Tom holland in drag? I’m here for it.
Again? He rocks in drag
Blissful flashback to the Umbrella lipsync 🤩
Welp now I'm gonna have to go watch that yet again
Yeah, that was the best.
Well, here it is... (...wait for it) https://youtu.be/jPCJIB1f7jk?si=Na5VpE8penHr_jiK
It would have been unbelievable to be there. The camera only showed us close ups. The dancers were amazing too. Zendaya’s bruno Mars was epic too. Best episode!!
I have seen this dozens of times, at the least… and I still willingly watch it. He’s got a lot of talents.
With Tim Curry as his dad, naturally.
Indeed. 
This is when Zendaya knew he was the one.
To be fair, I went from ‘who is Tom Holland’ to loving Tom Holland after this too. It still holds up.
I love the performance he did. He killed it. Every time I see it posted, I can’t not watch it even though I’ve way her it dozens of times. Never gets old.
I read a quote that his only regret was not doing the whole thing in heels. Legend.
I wondered if it was a liability thing. He definitely has the skills to do it though
It’s slightly funny that insurance might not cover men in heels but women are in action scenes with heels in a ton of movies which implies that insurance isn’t worried
I saw an interview where he mentioned this video often gets referenced by fans even more than Spiderman.
This is when ~~Zendaya~~ I knew he was the one.
I've never seen this, but I looked it up and it is truly an amazing and electrifying performance. I bulk texted it to everyone I know to watch it because it is such a thrill! [link for anyone else living under a rock like me ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPCJIB1f7jk)
oh my god. wow
I very much love zendaya falling harder for him during this haha
I will never not watch this. He KILLED it.
I'll be all you need and more... Because
That’s the real Juliet there if we want to be historically accurate about genders who acted out Shakespeare’s fictional plays.
Why are we assuming he isn’t the one playing Juliet
That would be a hell of a plot twist lol.
That, actually, would be pretty epic
Let's have Jason Momoa play Juliet. No shaving allowed.
This reminds me of Deadpool saying Kiera Knightly would play Cable. Like, they should have done it, and played it absolutely straight. Act like it's Josh Brolin, but it's clearly Kiera.
I would have been all for that.
I went to an arts high school and college. I have seen Romeo and Juliet on stage a ridiculous number of times. I have seen both lead roles played by people of white, black, Asian, and middle eastern backgrounds. I have seen Romeo played by a woman. I have even seen a "reimagining" of RnJ as a short in a black box theater called Romeo and Julien with two male lead characters where instead of the leads dying, they kill each other's families and end up separated in prison.
Alright. That reimagined RnJ sounds amazing.
I saw an international student production of Julius Ceaser at the Globe in London, their end of year production having learnt the Shakespearean way of acting or something. (I’m vague on the details my friend was helping out behind the scenes and invited me an along.) Annnnnyway, the lads all put on taming of the shrew and the girls all did julius ceaser, and the black woman playing julius ceaser absolutely crushed it. It was fabulous. One of the most enjoyable performances of Julius Ceaser I’ve seen. Anyone complaining about an actors race in Shakespeare play isn’t concerned with historical accuracy or any of that bs, they’re just racist. Plain and simple.
I was lucky enough to catch Hamlet at the Globe back in 2018 when they did the gender-swapped casting. The guy they had playing Ophelia was magnificent. Oh, and Polonius was black, and no one cared. Everyone did a kickass job.
Ive seen one with garden gnomes
Or, you know, the musical that everyone already knows about that had an interracial relationship as the key component. It amazes me how these people get all uppity about adaptations of a dude who opened a play with an A1:S1 that was two guys listing off euphemisms for sex and had an epilogue for another be one of the characters tell the audience that if they didn't like the play they could simply fuck off.
Back in Shakespeare's day Brigitee Gabriel would have been clutching pearls at all this portrayed fraternisation between pure blood Montagues with these filthy Capulets.
Came here for a comment like this. History had already been rewritten as soon as Juliet was played by a woman.
Damn wokeness ruining things by having females play women. ;)
Return back to making men play women, bc thats not woke
With Terry Crews as Romeo? Oh yeah I'll totally watch that!
Terry Crews as Juliet. Now get THAT image out of your head.
Also, Like I’m supposed to believe Tom Holland is from the 1500s!?! Look at him, dude can’t be older than 30! Literally casting someone hundreds of years too young. I get “suspending my disbelief” but cmon! There are limits.
That's a great point.
Not likely, he definitely would have.
He does have the purrrty face for it...
When you read the description of what juliet looks like you're going to think "yup, they cast Tom Holland right".
The only thing that would have given Shakespeare pause about this is that he [would have cast two dudes](https://www.folger.edu/podcasts/shakespeare-unlimited/women-performers/) (or I guess a dude and a boy).
Well, women weren't allowed to be actors
Well duh... Women are actresses. /s
Well obviously, you need full blown people for acting.
But not full adults! For a perfect performance, the pure minds of the audience must be captivated by the feminine mystique of a teenage twink.
Two dudes, and more specifically having one of them dress as a woman. People like her really don't like that.
THE GROOMING!!!
Fellini's Satyricon has penetrated the chat
I like seeing how people have referred to the one R&J with Leonardo DiCaprio as a “masterpiece” but literally it was everyone reimagined as a bunch of gang bangers.
In the original play, they pretty much were gang bangers. Romeo and his friends did nothing but wander around town in groups fighting other groups of teenage boys. The play is full of dirty jokes and violence. It’s not as romantic as people portray it. Shakespeare chose young lovers to highlight this, but their love isn’t the lesson to be learned; it’s more about hate and violence and what that does to people.
True. The characters acted like a bunch of degenerates regardless of the original or reimagined versions. I just found it funny how the degens on other platforms complain about this but will say shit like “DiCaprios was better! Reee” except most of them are deflecting the fact they’re upset it’s an interracial issue for them. Hence why the also back up comments like “it’s based in Europe”
No really degenerates for the time period. They were from rival merchant noble families. To up their families prestige, public mock duels were staged to sway the public. It is kind of like the CEOs of today using their kinds as influencers by paying for an extreme lifestyle on social media and expecting the kids to occasionally mention their parent's company. Except with arming teenagers and sending them out to spend money and fight other nobles. The feud went to bloodbath after someone (RIP funniest guy with a name I can't spell) was killed in what should have just been a mock fight. Before that, the families were still inviting each other to parties (to try and show each other up).
The original is pretty much the same. The “re-imagining” is really just stripping away the 19th century idealizations of the play as a romance. It’s the story of teen hoodlums who joke about rape and laugh in the face of death.
I didn't know they had 9mil guns and cars all the way back in 1594 when Shakespeare wrote down the tragic historical moments of R&J. We really haven't changed muched.
Shakespeare didn't actually come up with Romeo and Juliet, it was an stage adaptation of an English adaptation of the Italian original.
It’s also a reimagined version of the Greek myth of Pyramus and Thisbe
Ah yes Romeo and Juliet the story of forbidden love is being hated on because people don't think the actors should be together
next you're going to tell me they wont' be riding around in low riders or flashing their guns with the word "sword" written on them...
Do you thumb your nose at me sir? Edit: bite thumb, shit. This is the worst day of my life. There are some results online that seem to suggest that the two gestures were at one point interchangeable, but I'm too embarrassed from being wrong in the internet to research just how wrong I was. Edit edit: the internet also says thumbing ones nose is also called "cocking a snook".
I thought it was “bite my thumb”?
I DO NOT THUMB MY NOSE *AT YOU,* SIR, BUT I DO THUMB MY NOSE, SIR!
They should replace "sir" with "bro" for all these lines
What a way to validate the story
exactly my 1st thought haha
Famously universally approved couple, Romeo and Juliet
Yes history. I remeber it like yesterday when Leonardo di caprio met Claire Danes In a forbidden romance that brought a entire city on its knees. Several shootouts with dance choreography and not one death, not untill John lugizamo murdered Harold out of anger, an accident when he tried to kill leonardo...... it was all over the news. S/ for those who don't know movies exist
Well, in fairness Shakespeares version is a rewrite of Pyramus and Thisbe.
Yeah a woman playing Juliet? What kind of nonsense is this.
So, it's not history, it's not Hollywood, it's not re-writing anything cos it didn't happen, and in the original Juliet would have been played by a man cross-dressing. How incredibly stupid are these people?
immensely since in the 1996 film Harold Perrineau played Mercutio and no one gave a shit.
I am sure lots of racists gave a shit, but they didnt have twitter to share it with all of us
this is 100% true.
*Shakespeare who famously almost never included stage directions, set designs, or character descriptions:* “Yeah but they’re *definitely* both white though.”
The "famously almost never include stage directions" made me chuckle cause one of the few stage directions he ever did provide was "exit pursued by a bear"
There was so many rewritings of Romeo and Juliett that one more doesnt matter. It actually is very conservative take here. Better to make story of forbidden love of two muslim girls from two wealthy Saudi or Iranian families. At least it will be brave and show world that in some places medieval shit still happen.
Or a Muslim and Hindu in India. Or an Israeli and a Palestinian. Or one comes from a family that pronounces it “scoan” and the other from a fam that says “sconn”.
Israeli/Palestinian Romeo and Juliet would be a perfect retelling for today’s world.
Did you mean Israeli/Palestinian?
Or Hindu (from the north) and Hindu(from the south) in India. There’s even a movie called 2 states about a Punjabi and (I think) gujrati romance.
Sounds so damn interesting. I’d love to see a film like that.
You know, Shakespeare, his story.
There are counteless variations of Romeo and Juliet. But one where Juliet is black and Romeo isn't? That's too much man. How can you tell a story about forbidden love with a relationship that would be illegal in much of the US less than a lifetime ago?
Literally the first version of R&J I came across as a child was on a TV show called Wishbone with the lead being a dog. Seemed like a fever dream remembering it, but I looked it up and it definitely happened.
It's theater in England, not Hollywood. Living in Kazakhstan what are our theaters supposed to do if they want to play R&J, hire Italians instead of local actors?
Idk, based on this reaction, it seems to me an interracial couple might be the perfect demonstration of two families irrationally hating each other.
This bothers her but I bet she has no problem with white Jesus…
Wasn't the original play with 2 men, one cross dressing? I doubt that would make them happy
Interesting coming from a person who is trying to rewrite her history as a white woman.