Will Shakespeare pitches the tragic conclusion of his new play to his skeptical but intrigued acting company. As he describes the double suicide of the star-crossed lovers, he shares an intense, unspoken moment of connection with Viola, who is disguised as a male actor.
WILL: . . . For killing Juliet's kinsman Tybalt, the one who killed Romeo's friend Mercutio, Romeo is banished . . . but the Friar who married Romeo and Juliet—
ACTOR: Is that me. Will?
WILL: You, Edward. The Friar who married them gives Juliet a potion to drink. It is a secret potion. It makes her seeming dead. She is placed in the tomb of the Capulets. She will awake to life and love when Romeo comes to her side again.
FENNYMAN: That's me.
WILL: And buys a deadly poison. He enters the tomb to say farewell to Juliet who lies there cold as death. He drinks the poison. He dies by her side. And then she wakes and sees him dead.
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