Like Softest Music [extracts]

Summary: 1962 Associated-Rediffusion production for ITV of extracts from the first and second acts of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, given under the title Like Softest Music, in a series for schools titled Patterns of Love.
Theatre play: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare [more information]
Play synopsis: 'A long-standing feud between the Montagues and the Capulets flares up in a brawl on the streets of Verona, halted only by the arrival of Prince Escalus. Romeo, only son of the Montagues, is hopelessly in love with the unattainable Rosaline. Attempting to shake him out of his melancholy, his friends Mercutio and Benvolio persuade him to go to a party at the Capulets’ house. There he meets and falls instantly in love with Juliet, the Capulets’ only daughter, and she with him. With the help of Juliet’s Nurse, they are secretly married the next day by Friar Laurence. Juliet’s cousin Tybalt quarrels with Romeo and in the fight which ensues Mercutio is killed. Romeo avenges his friend’s death and kills Tybalt, for which he is banished from Verona on pain of death. After spending a single night with his bride, he escapes to Mantua. Juliet learns that her parents plan to marry her to Count Paris. Distraught, she turns to Friar Laurence, who devises a plan. He gives her a drug which will make her appear to be dead. The intention is that her parents will place her in the family tomb and when she awakes from her drugged sleep, Romeo will be waiting to escape with her to Mantua. When Romeo returns to Verona, he believes her really to be dead and kills himself. Waking to find Romeo dead beside her, Juliet kills herself. The two families, united in grief, vow to end their feud’ (source: http://www.rscshakespeare.co.uk/romeoJuliet.html).
Production history: Romeo and Juliet was written in 1595-96 .
Date of transmission: Tuesday 2 October 1962
Time: 3.26-3.51pm
Series: Patterns of Love
Channel: ITV
Production company: Associated-Rediffusion (1955-1964)