Find out about Jean Cocteau's Surrealist stage production of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
Find out about Jean Cocteau's Surrealist stage production of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
Learn about Jean Cocteau's Surrealist stage production of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, as depicted in the book Roméo et Juliette (1926).
Courtesy of Folger Shakespeare Library; CC-BY-SA 4.0 (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
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Courtesy of Folger Shakespeare Library; CC-BY-SA 4.0 (A Britannica Publishing Partner)Learn about Jean Cocteau's Surrealist stage production of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, as depicted in the book Roméo et Juliette (1926).
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.This 1976 production by Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation imagines how Voltaire might discuss both his own book Candide and the so-called Age of Enlightenment.
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Courtesy of Folger Shakespeare Library; CC-BY-SA 4.0 (A Britannica Publishing Partner)Excerpt from David Garrick's 18th-century adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, in which Romeo takes the poison but is still conscious when Juliet awakens. The two then speak dialogue not written by Shakespeare.
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Courtesy of Folger Shakespeare Library; CC-BY-SA 4.0 (A Britannica Publishing Partner)A look at an illustration in the Vorticist style by Wyndham Lewis, c. 1913. The subject is William Shakespeare's play, Timon of Athens.
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Courtesy of Folger Shakespeare Library; CC-BY-SA 4.0 (A Britannica Publishing Partner)William Shakespeare's Othello is discussed by the cast and crew of a Folger Shakespeare Library production of the play.
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Courtesy of Folger Shakespeare Library; CC-BY-SA 4.0 (A Britannica Publishing Partner)Learn about the significance of books for Prospero, the learned magician in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest, and examine actual books that character might treasure, as selected from the collection of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.
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Courtesy of Folger Shakespeare Library; CC-BY-SA 4.0 (A Britannica Publishing Partner)The story of William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors, as told by the cast and crew of a Folger Shakespeare Library production.
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Courtesy of Folger Shakespeare Library; CC-BY-SA 4.0 (A Britannica Publishing Partner)Short excerpts from a Folger Shakespeare Library production of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, with critical analysis by the cast and crew.
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Courtesy of Folger Shakespeare Library; CC-BY-SA 4.0 (A Britannica Publishing Partner)A tutorial from the staff of the Folger Shakespeare Library on the safe handling of rare books, manuscripts, and prints.
News •
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet used in Surrey knife crime lessons
• Dec. 17, 2025, 5:39 AM ET (BBC)
Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING] JANET GRIFFIN: Hi, I'm Janet Griffin, director of public programs and artistic producer of Folger Theatre.
Having just had Romeo and Juliet on our stage this fall, we were thrilled to see this version of Shakespeare's greatest love story. Jean Cocteau's Romeo et Juliette, a wonderful example of French surrealist theater, relied a great deal on choreography and found meaning beyond the simple text.
While we at the Folger take great store by the text, this Cocteau production would certainly have been an amazing night in the theater and one which I would have jumped to present when it first played in Paris in 1924, just eight years before the Folger opened.
I know our audience would have embraced the daring of this piece. The costumes designed by Jean Hugo, a gifted artist of France's avant-garde and the great grandson of Victor Hugo were impressive, with their iridescent linear designs, which glowed under what I suspect was the equivalent of black light. Quite a psychedelic experience.
This limited-edition volume, with its splendid hand-colored illustrations, is a testament to the remarkable ways in which great artists through time have retold Shakespeare's moving tale of woe.
Having just had Romeo and Juliet on our stage this fall, we were thrilled to see this version of Shakespeare's greatest love story. Jean Cocteau's Romeo et Juliette, a wonderful example of French surrealist theater, relied a great deal on choreography and found meaning beyond the simple text.
While we at the Folger take great store by the text, this Cocteau production would certainly have been an amazing night in the theater and one which I would have jumped to present when it first played in Paris in 1924, just eight years before the Folger opened.
I know our audience would have embraced the daring of this piece. The costumes designed by Jean Hugo, a gifted artist of France's avant-garde and the great grandson of Victor Hugo were impressive, with their iridescent linear designs, which glowed under what I suspect was the equivalent of black light. Quite a psychedelic experience.
This limited-edition volume, with its splendid hand-colored illustrations, is a testament to the remarkable ways in which great artists through time have retold Shakespeare's moving tale of woe.
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