And here he is, original.

Each week, we decide who's to blame for historical tragedy.

And each week, you tell us if we got it right.

My name is Rebecca Delgado-Smith, and this is The Aftermath.

Hey everyone, thanks to tuning into this episode of The Aftermath.

Today we're speaking with guest expert Dr. James Shapiro, professor of English and comparative

literature specializing in Shakespeare at Columbia University.

You'll also remember him as our guest expert on the Astor Place riot.

Let's hear what he has to say about Romeo and Juliet.

Hi Jim, thanks so much for joining us today.

It's going to be fun, I'm looking forward.

So before we get started talking about Romeo and Juliet, can you give us a brief background

on who Shakespeare was and where he's at in his career at the time that he writes this

play?

Sure, Shakespeare is born in 1564 and he writes this play in 1594, so he's just really

turning 40 years old, and sorry, 30 years old when he's writing this play the decades

past quickly.

And to give you a sense of what this moment was in his writing life, he had been a

freelancer, basically a gig worker collaborating on plays writing some of his own acting in

plays from when he started in the theater in London in 1589 or so until 1592 when a

pandemic hit London and shut the theaters for two years.

And his great rivals, Marlowe, Kid, just a half dozen others did not survive the two

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