Presented to you through Paradigm Publishing Services

John Benjamins Publishing Company

Visit our Partner Page See all our books
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Chapter 12. A festival blockbuster

Romeo and Juliet at the Edinburgh Fringe and the Avignon Off

Abstract

The Avignon Off and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival have a favourite Shakespearean play: Romeo and Juliet. Between 2011 and 2014, the play was staged fourteen times at the Edinburgh Fringe and thirteen times at the Avignon Off. This success can be attributed to its status as a well-known love story, its popularity and its emblematic scenes. Across the abundance of productions, two opposed trends can be identified: whereas many of the productions at the Edinburgh Fringe are staged by amateur groups, at the Avignon Off it is professional companies who tend to re-write the play or use it as a point of departure. This chapter seeks to address how Romeo and Juliet allows for different approaches at these two alternative festivals and, at the same time, it looks for reasons that explain the popularity of the play in twenty-first-century popular culture.

Abstract

The Avignon Off and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival have a favourite Shakespearean play: Romeo and Juliet. Between 2011 and 2014, the play was staged fourteen times at the Edinburgh Fringe and thirteen times at the Avignon Off. This success can be attributed to its status as a well-known love story, its popularity and its emblematic scenes. Across the abundance of productions, two opposed trends can be identified: whereas many of the productions at the Edinburgh Fringe are staged by amateur groups, at the Avignon Off it is professional companies who tend to re-write the play or use it as a point of departure. This chapter seeks to address how Romeo and Juliet allows for different approaches at these two alternative festivals and, at the same time, it looks for reasons that explain the popularity of the play in twenty-first-century popular culture.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of contributors vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Chapter 1. Heavenly eloquence 25
  6. Chapter 2. Juliet’s balcony 37
  7. Chapter 3. Romeo and Juliet in Germany 61
  8. Chapter 4. Romeo and Juliet on the French stage 77
  9. Chapter 5. Romeo and Juliet in Spain 101
  10. Chapter 6. Judaisation in the first Hebrew translation of Romeo and Juliet 119
  11. Chapter 7. Giulietta e Romeo 139
  12. Chapter 8. Star-crossed lovers in Sweden 159
  13. Chapter 9. Romeo and Juliet  – The East Side Story 177
  14. Chapter 10. “Unveiling” Romeo and Juliet in Spain 197
  15. Chapter 11. Romeo and Juliet in British culture 227
  16. Chapter 12. A festival blockbuster 247
  17. Chapter 13. What’s in a stamp? 263
  18. Chapter 14. “In fair [Europe], where we lay our scene” 283
  19. Chapter 15. A selective timeline of Romeo and Juliet in European culture 301
  20. Index 321
<i>Romeo and Juliet</i> in European Culture
This chapter is in the book <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> in European Culture
https://doi.org/10.1075/sec.1.13gue

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of contributors vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Chapter 1. Heavenly eloquence 25
  6. Chapter 2. Juliet’s balcony 37
  7. Chapter 3. Romeo and Juliet in Germany 61
  8. Chapter 4. Romeo and Juliet on the French stage 77
  9. Chapter 5. Romeo and Juliet in Spain 101
  10. Chapter 6. Judaisation in the first Hebrew translation of Romeo and Juliet 119
  11. Chapter 7. Giulietta e Romeo 139
  12. Chapter 8. Star-crossed lovers in Sweden 159
  13. Chapter 9. Romeo and Juliet  – The East Side Story 177
  14. Chapter 10. “Unveiling” Romeo and Juliet in Spain 197
  15. Chapter 11. Romeo and Juliet in British culture 227
  16. Chapter 12. A festival blockbuster 247
  17. Chapter 13. What’s in a stamp? 263
  18. Chapter 14. “In fair [Europe], where we lay our scene” 283
  19. Chapter 15. A selective timeline of Romeo and Juliet in European culture 301
  20. Index 321
Downloaded on 13.4.2026 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/sec.1.13gue/html
Scroll to top button