Romeos & Julietas: All Alike in Dignity

Diversifying The Classics places the Public Theater’s new bilingual version of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” in conversation with Lope de Vega’s “Castelvines y Monteses,” in a brand new English translation by Dakin Matthews.

Diversifying the Classics invites you to learn about the star-crossed lovers of Lope de Vega and Shakespeare through a conversation with actor and translator Dakin Matthews and scholars Carla della Gatta (FSU) and Barbara Fuchs (UCLA), and a reading of scenes from Lope’s Castelvines y Monteses in its English translation.

The presenters will discuss this production in relation to a much earlier Spanish version of the Romeo and Juliet story, Lope de Vega’s Castelvines y Monteses, now translated into English by Dakin Matthews as Capulets and Montagues, followed by a staged reading of selected scenes from Capulets. The text for the scenes will be distributed to all registrants. A complete text of Matthews’ translation is forthcoming in April 2021 from Juan de la Cuesta.

About Diversifying the Classics

Since 2014, and under the direction of UCLA Professor Barbara Fuchs, Diversifying the Classics has been promoting the comedia to L.A. audiences and beyond by attending to issues of translation and adaptation, connecting academics with practitioners, and hosting performances.

Diversifying the Classics promotes the vibrant, Spanish-language theatrical tradition developed on both sides of the Atlantic by playwrights such as Spaniards Lope de Vega and Calderón de la Barca, or Mexicans Ruiz de Alarcón and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. The project seeks to foster awareness and appreciation of Hispanic classical theater in Los Angeles and beyond, expanding the canon to include the heritage of U.S. Latino communities.