Juliet is a wilful youth with passion and conviction and we see large parts of the tragedy unfold through her eyes. It is to Juliet that Shakespeare has given the great soliloquies and as a consequence many classical actors still aspire to play this part.

Alexandra Gilbreath (photo 1) played Juliet to David Tennant's Romeo in Michael Boyd's 2000 production. Many commentators felt that Gilbreath played a more mature Juliet who excelled in the second half of the play when Juliet is forced to make difficult adult decisions and grow up fast.

The casting of Juliet has certain inherent difficulties simply because very few actors begin their acting careers until they are in their twenties. Inevitably, some directors have naturally downplayed the issue of the lovers being teenagers whilst others have tried to accommodate Shakespeare. Terry Hands cast Georgia Slowe (photo 2) in his 1989 production of Romeo and Juliet which played in the Swan Theatre. Slowe's Juliet was certainly a more youthful interpretation of the role because she played her as a naïve teenager besotted with her first true love.

In 1986 Niamh Cusack (photo 3) played Juliet in a production directed by Michael Bogdanov with Sean Bean as Romeo. In an essay about playing Juliet, Cusack described the adjustments she had to make from playing another tragic character (Desdemona), which she had played at the RSC in the previous year. 'To move from Desdemona to Juliet was to move from a reactive to an active role. I think Juliet is considerably younger than Desdemona, but in her play she is the active agent, the person who does everything and who motors the play, particularly in an emotional sense.' (Niamh Cusack, 'Juliet in Romeo and Juliet', Players of Shakespeare 2, CUP, 1988, Edited by Russell Jackson & Robert Smallwood, p. 123).

The 2006 Complete Works Festival production, directed by Nancy Meckler cast RSC debutants Rupert Evans and Morven Christie (photo 4) in the title roles.