Romeo and Juliet

We took Bernie, Charlie and Dominique to see Romeo and Juliet the other night. Although Dom is only 10, she enjoyed the play as much as the rest. I had taken her and Charlie through the plot in advance, so that it wold be easier for them to follow; Charlie had opted out of that as he preferred to hear it fresh -and he seemed to follow it fine. I sometimes think we underestimate our kids’ abilities to understand this kind of stuff: but Shakespeare is such a great dramatist that even if a few words and phrases are not understood, the dramatic power of the whole is unmissable. We followed that up by watching the DVD of West Side Story: a great re-telling of Romeo and Juliet in a modern setting, with fabulous music. Charlie was disappointed that Maria didn’t die at the end - after all, Juliet had to!