No Fear Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet
Every line twice: Shakespeare’s on one side, plain English on the other.
If the language is the only thing standing between you and the play, put a modern version next to it and keep going.
The language stopped you once, and you would like to find out what was behind it without a fight.
What it keeps and what it changes
Keeps: the complete original text. The publisher describes it as the whole play, line by line, with nothing cut.
Changes: what you read alongside it: a line-by-line translation into everyday English, a character list and commentary.
The whole play stays on the page. Next to every line is a modern English version, so you can read either column, or both.
Whose story is it?
the lovers’, at the play’s own length. The translation changes the words you lean on, not who gets to speak.
How much time does it ask?
304 pages, in a trade paperback from SparkNotes.
Hachette’s description: “the complete original text,” with “a line-by-line translation” into everyday language.
Where to find it
Buy the paperback — Bookshop.org
Other ways to get it: Paperback — Amazon · Ebook — Kobo · Kindle — Amazon
Borrow it free: Borrow on Libby · Find at your library — WorldCat
Common questions
Is No Fear Shakespeare the whole play?
Yes. The publisher describes it as the complete original text with a line-by-line translation into everyday language beside it, plus a character list and commentary. It is 304 pages in paperback.
More ways into Verona: The Folger Shakespeare Library edition · The Arden Shakespeare, Third Series, ed. René Weis · Oxford School Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet