Shakespeare’s Lovers

Many of the greatest lovers, and the greatest love scenes in Western literature are to be found in Shakespeare. The fresh but impassioned Romeo and Juliet, the resilient wit of Petruchio and Kate, the ardent exchanges of Lorenzo and Jessica and the anguished tragedies of Othello and Desdemona, and Antony and Cleopatra – they all show love and courtship in its many forms. The darker side of love is here too – the spine-chilling wooing of Lady Anne by Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and the control maintained by Lady Macbeth over her husband. But it is balanced by the buffoonery of Falstaff and Mistress Ford, and Pyramus and Thisbe. In their lively and imaginative selection, Bill Homewood and Estelle Kohler perform the finest love scenes from nearly twenty plays.