Romeo, Juliet, and Twitter. Wait…what?

Mudlark and the Royal Shakespeare Company have joined forces to present Such Tweet Sorrow, a modern adaptation of Romeo and Juliet that takes place in real time on Twitter. Actors are given a scripted outline and character diaries, and they generate original tweets based on what the character would be thinking or feeling at any given moment.

I assume that the goal of this project is to use social media to attract younger audiences, and I applaud them for that. If students become interested in Shakespeare after seeing these tweets and pick up a copy of Romeo and Juliet or make an effort to go to the theater, that\’s a wonderful thing. However, because the actors are not using the original text and they’re dealing with the 14o character limit on Twitter, we end up with tweets like this: “Just seen Jules’ vid. She’s too worried; too young. I want there 2b things 4her 2 look 4ward to. Time 4me 2plan the best 16th Birthday ever!” I can barely even read that sentence, but then again, I\’m not the target audience.

My main issue with this project is the decision to change some of the history and relationships between the characters. In the original text, the Capulets and the Montagues have been feuding for generations; it’s not even really clear why they hate each other so much, and I don’t think the characters truly understand it anymore either. They continue the feud because it’s what they know, and there’s a stubborn sense of pride that will eventually make the conclusion of the play all the more tragic. In Such Tweet Sorrow, the feud begins in 2000 when Montague causes a car accident that kills Lady Capulet. In this version, Tybalt is Juliet’s brother and the Nurse is actually her older sister, and they are stuck with an awful stepmother when Capulet remarries. Is any of that really necessary? I am always in favor of the adaptation of classic plays, but why change something that\’s already great if you can’t make it better? This project would have worked just as well had they kept to the original structure.