Facebook Pixel Skip to main content
Drop Dead, Juliet!

Drop Dead, Juliet!

by Allison Williams

Juliet has had enough! Enough with the poison, enough with the stabbing, and especially enough with the dying. She wants a new story and she wants it now. More parts for girls! More romance! Less death!

Romeo and Juliet will never be the same - or will it? Not everyone's so keen on the changes. And why is Romeo sneaking off with Rosaline?

Comedy Classical Adaptation Shakespeare

Average Producer Rating:

Recommended for High Schools and Middle Schools

Running Time
About 30 minutes
Approximate; excludes intermissions and scene changes
Cast
18 Characters
4 M13 F1 Any Gender
Set
Simple Set
Length
30 pages
Free Excerpt

What to order?

Not sure what you need to order? Check out our pricing and ordering guide.

Performance Royalty Fees

Royalty fees apply to all performances whether or not admission is charged. Any performance in front of an audience (e.g. an invited dress rehearsal) is considered a performance for royalty purposes.

Exemption details for scenes and monologues for competition.

18 Characters
4 M, 13 F, 1 Any Gender

Characters in this play are currently identified as male or female. Directors are welcome to assign any gender (binary or non-binary) to any character and modify pronouns accordingly.


Capulets
Juliet [F] 134 lines
Is scripted to die. Doesn’t.
Nurse [F] 12 lines
Knows there are no small parts.
Lord Capulet [M] 6 lines
Juliet’s dad. A believer in tough love.
Lady Capulet [F] 14 lines
Juliet’s mom. Is just happy she’s not in “The Tempest.”
Gregory [F] 3 lines
Lover of wordplay.
Sampson [F] 6 lines
He does bite his thumb, ma’am.
Tybalt [F] 10 lines
Prince of Cats. Only one life, though.

Montagues
Romeo [M] 58 lines
Wherefore art him.
Abram [F] 4 lines
Initiates the Dance Off.
Mercutio [F] 12 lines
Generally good-natured, when he isn’t wishing a plague on your house.
Lady Montague [F] 5 lines
Romeo’s mom. Thinks :Love at first sight” is a little contrived.
A Montague [A] 1 line
Worried that they just got served by the Capulets.

Others
Shakespeare [M] 72 lines
The Bard himself. Knows that the pen is mightier than the sword.
Prince/Princess [F] 5 lines
Immediately exiles Romeo hence. It’s nothing personal, though.
Friar/Sister Lawrence [F] 13 lines
Your go-to gal for poison.
Friar John [M] 1 line
The stupid one.
Ophelia [F] 0 lines
The strong, silent, “runs off crying” type.
Desdemona [F] 1 line
Should start hand-washing her handkerchiefs.

Praise for Drop Dead, Juliet!

Holly Thomas
International Charter School of Atlanta
We adored doing this play. The writing is magnificent. We loved switching from old to modern English and all of the funny one-liner jokes.
Emily McRae
Mount Aspiring College
Students loved the over-the-top presentational style as it helped to build real performance confidence while having fun!
Joanna Shumaker
Coleman Community Jr/Sr High School
The play was great! And a perfect size to use to restart our drama program at our school! The script was well done and mixed original Shakespeare with the storyline which was great!

More Plays Like Drop Dead, Juliet!

Frankenstein Among the Dead

adapted by Laramie Dean from the novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Thunder and lightning tear apart the night sky while two young women explore the story of Frankenstein

The Pauper Princess

by Holly Beardsley inspired by Mark Twain

A retelling of Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper.

The Taming of the Shrew

cutting and notes by Lindsay Price from the original by Shakespeare

A one act annotated version of Shakespeare's controversial tale about the relationships between men and women.

Romeo and Juliet (Modern English)

adapted by Craig Mason from Shakespeare

A modern English one act version of Shakespeare's tragic tale of star-crossed lovers.

Romeo and Juliet (One Hour)

cutting and notes by Lindsay Price from the original by Shakespeare

A one act annotated version of Shakespeare's tragic tale of star-crossed lovers.

Much Ado High School

by Lindsay Price

What if Much Ado About Nothing took place at a high school dance? An enjoyable introduction to Shakespeare with lightning-fast pace and snappy dialogue.

From the Drama Teacher Learning Centre

Happy International Women’s Day!
Playwriting

Happy International Women’s Day!

March 8th is International Women’s Day – and what better time to highlight some amazing women within the Theatrefolk community. Join us in celebrating these phenomenal playwrights and authors and...
Theatrefolk’s Top 10: Cross-Curricular Plays
Featured Plays

Theatrefolk’s Top 10: Cross-Curricular Plays

Time for a Tfolk Top Ten Plays For….Cross-curricular. Cross-curricular is a magic word for many admins and quite frankly there’s a good reason for that. Here in the 21st century we no longer live...
Not Your Standard Shakespeare: Drop Dead, Juliet!
Featured Plays

Not Your Standard Shakespeare: Drop Dead, Juliet!

Romeo and Juliet may never be the same, thanks to the comedic classical adaptation, Drop Dead, Juliet!, by Allison Williams. Director Catie Reardon and the drama students at Rio Grande High School...
Theatrefolk’s Top 10: Comedies
Production

Theatrefolk’s Top 10: Comedies

Time for a Tfolk Top Ten Plays for…Comedies. Read one, read them all! Click the link and you’ll be taken to the webpage for each play. There you’ll get the details and read sample pages. All the...
Theatrefolk’s Top 10: Most Popular Plays
Production

Theatrefolk’s Top 10: Most Popular Plays

Time for a Tfolk Top Ten For…Our Most Popular Plays! Sometimes you want a sure thing. So this week we offer our most popular plays. These are the works that get done time and time again whether...
Theatrefolk Podcast: Using Theatre in China
Podcast

Theatrefolk Podcast: Using Theatre in China

Episode 124: Using Theatre in ChinaNick Cala is a high school teacher in China. He’s putting up a play for the first time with Chinese students who are studying to attend American universities and...
One Act Plays for Middle School
Featured Plays

One Act Plays for Middle School

Choosing one act plays for middle school is not an easy task. The students are at a very in-between point in their lives. They no longer want to be seen of as “kids” yet many are not quite ready to...
We accept

In addition to the above payment methods, Purchase Orders are accepted from US and Canadian Schools.

Info for your purchasing department