Q1 Romeo and Juliet and Elizabethan Theatrical Vocabulary - Q1 - essay

Sep 28, 2026

The essay examines how the first “bad” quarto (Q1, 1597) of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet functions as a theatrical record distinct from the longer “good” quarto (Q2, 1599). It argues that Q1’s unusually detailed stage directions and title-page claims provide evidence of mid-1590s performance practices, while some Q1 material can only inform staging rather than editorial narratives. Close analysis groups onstage effects, including actions, properties, costumes, and specific scene business.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time29 min

AccessFree to download

Q1 as an editorial and theatrical problem

Comparative limits of “bad” versus “good” quartos

Q1’s title page and performance evidence

Categories of onstage effects in Q1

Examples: combat staging, tomb scene, and suicide business

from Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet": Texts, Contexts, and Interpretation, ed. Jay Halio (Newark: U. of Delaware Press, 1995), 107-22 Q1 Romeo and Juliet and Elizabethan Theatrical Vocabulary Alan C. Dessen After many years of neglect, that sub-group of early printed texts of Shakespeare's plays once dismissed as "bad" quartos has moved closer to center stage. For generations scholars have drawn upon these shorter versions of 2 Henry VI, 3 Henry VI, Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, Hamlet, and The Merry Wives of Windsor in order to construct narratives about the origins, auspices, and distinctive features of the longer "good" versions; in fashioning their editions, moreover, editors have made selective use of distinctive material found in the shorter texts. When constructing narratives or editions or both, the failings ofthe "bad" version (in the spirit of Dogberry's "comparisons are odorous") then often become a foil to set off the virtues ofthe "good"--as evidenced by the frequent citation for comic relief of Q1 Hamlet's "To be, or not to be, I there's the point" (D4v) . Such a comparative approach may be unavoidable, for few readers familiar with the received version of Romeo or Hamlet can disremember distinctive and often highly prized elements so as to look afresh at the shorter first quartos.1 Such comparisons, moreover, can be fruitful when they italicize distinctive features of either text. To use the"bad" version only as a springboard into a fuller understanding of the "good," however, is to blur or eclipse some valuable evidence--in particular, evidence about how these and other plays were staged in the 1590s and early 1600s. My goal in this essay on Romeo and Juliet is, then, not to ignore totally the second or "good" quarto version printed in 1599, a text that rightly serves as the basis for today's editions, but still to focus primarily upon the evidence provided and the implicit strategies found in the much shorter first or "bad" quarto of 1597. My interest is generated in part by Q1's title page which announces that what is to follow is "An Excellent conceited Tragedie of Romeo and Iuliet. As it hath been often (with great applause) plaid publiquely, by the right Honourable the L. of Hunsdon his Seruants."2 Admittedly, claims on title pages are comparable to the puffery found on dust jackets of books today. Nonetheless, given Q1's unusually informative and often distinctive stage directions, I, for one, give some weight to the statement "As it hath been often (with great applause) plaid publiquely." I do not intend to explore the nature or auspices of the performances encapsulated in "often" (a matter of some significance to those scholars who explain Q1 as a version of a longer play that has been abridged for performance "on the road"); rather, I am concerned with this printed text as evidence about a performed version of this play somewhere, anywhere in the mid 1590s. From a close look at Q1 as a theatrical document emerge several categories of onstage effects. First, for whatever reason this text provides more stage directions than normally found elsewhere and hence more details of various kinds.3 As a result, there are a number of Q1-only stage directions that clearly or probably do pertain to Q2, as when a Q1 signal makes explicit what is clearly implicit in Q2's dialogue. For example,"Tibalt vnder Romeos arme thrusts Mercutio, in andflyes" (F1v) spells out what a reader can infer from Mercutio's statement to Romeo in Q2 (where no such stage direction is tobe found): "Why the devil came you between us? I was hurt under your arm" (3.1.100-1) . Similarly, Q1 is much more specific than Q2 about actions and properties in 5.3, although most of these details are present implicitly in Q2: "Enter Countie Paris and his Page with flowers and sweete water"; "Paris strewes the Tomb with flowers"; "Enter Romeo and Balthasar, with a torch, a mattocke, and a crow of yron" (I4v); "Romeo opens the tombe"(K1r); "Fry

FAQs

What is the essay’s main goal regarding Q1 and Q2?

The essay aims not to ignore Q2 entirely, but to focus primarily on the evidence and implicit strategies found in the shorter first quarto (Q1, 1597). It treats Q1 as a theatrical document tied to performances in the mid-1590s.

Why does the author challenge purely comparative editorial narratives?

The author argues that using Q1 mainly as a “foil” for the virtues of Q2 can blur or eclipse valuable evidence, especially evidence about how plays were staged in the 1590s and early 1600s.

What kinds of onstage effects does the author identify in Q1?

The author describes several categories of onstage effects, highlighting that Q1 contains more stage directions than typically found elsewhere and includes Q1-only details that may pertain to Q2 or clarify actions, properties, and costume signifiers.

Sep 28, 2026

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