In 1611, more than a decade and a half after Romeo and Juliet was first performed, an Englishman named Tom Coryat published an account of the tour of the Continent he undertook in 1608. Even the concept of a balcony was (literally) foreign to Shakespeare's British contemporaries. But tracing the history of how the balcony scene evolved over the past four centuries reveals that even when it comes to Shakespeare, audiences may care less about the original text than about adaptations and revisions that appeal to the sensibilities of the current era.Īccording to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest known use in English of the word 'balcone' (as it was then spelled) didn’t occur until 1618, two years after Shakespeare died.

What is more complicated is understanding how a non-existent balcony has become so indelibly associated with Romeo and Juliet, that today it’s difficult to imagine the play without it. This strange fact-the lack of a balcony in Romeo and Juliet-can easily be verified by anyone who goes back and reads Shakespeare's play, something few have done since high school. Not only was there no balcony in Romeo and Juliet, there was no balcony in all of Shakespeare's England. In fact, Shakespeare didn't know what a balcony was. The word 'balcony' never appears in Shakespeare's play. There's only one problem: There is no balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet. Colloquially known as 'the balcony scene,' it contains Romeo and Juliet's most quoted lines, which are so closely associated with the balcony that they're frequently repeated (often incorrectly and in a hammy style) by non-actors who seize upon any real-life balcony, porch, landing, or veranda to reenact the moment. It's perhaps the most famous scene in all of English literature: Juliet stands on her balcony with Romeo in the garden below, star-crossed lovers meeting by moonlight.

Script of romeo and juliet stage play