They didn’t whisper or hold their phones up. They yelled. They cheered for sword fights and booed sad parts. At a 1597 performance, someone might have heckled the Friar for being a slowpoke. And they loved the explicit jokes. The original script has super dirty puns about “pricks” and “trees” that got cleaned up later. Shakespeare knew his crowd: drunk, loud, and hungry for sex and violence.
Romeo and Juliet | On the Stage | Romeo and juliet, Juliet, Theatre stage
The “Queen Mab” Speech
Mercutio’s famous speech about fairies was probably added later for a special performance. Why? Because Queen Elizabeth loved fairies. She was obsessed. Shakespeare basically said, “Let me pump up the fairy content for the Queen’s court.” That speech is pure, weird poetry about dream-dwarves and lovers’ kisses. It has nothing to do with the plot. But it’s fabulous.
