Should Romeo and Juliet be taught to year 7s and 8s?

I grew up in the UK and can confirm this is my experience also and that it is the same for kids here in Aus.

The first Shakespeare play we studied was when I was 12 and it was Midsummers. We were then lucky enough to be taken to see Branagh, Emma Thompson and Richard Briers at the Bristol Hippodrome. Like Romeo and Juliet (which I studied at 13) Midsummers has very simple and accessible themes. I didn't have any real problems with any of the themes but have understood the layers and implications more as I have gotten older.

I hated the love parts of R&J and loved the fighting/drama. It is quite common for people to have a higher tolerance to gore and horror and whatnot as a kid due to lack of understanding of cause and effect. I used to adore the Poltergeist movies as a kid but nowadays horror and the supernatural gives me anxiety and nightmares.

I think in terms of the love elements I used to cherish how passionate it all sounded in my late teens to mid 20s but now I am late 30s I am more pessimistic. That is what I love about Shakespeare. Your relationship with each play changes over time and with life experience.

Bonus story time: I think what sticks out more in my mind as traumatising in hindsight was the Q and A after seeing Midsummers at the theatre. Branagh picked me to go sit on his knee to help him field questions. He was only wearing very sheer tights. Nothing untoward happened. He was completely above board. I just have a surreal memory of Briers still in Bottom costume next to us joking about how inappropriate it looked and Branagh getting uncomfortable and embarrassed until I slid from his lap off the edge of the stage.

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