ABSTRACT
Nurse is one of those famous roles in Shakespeare. In author opinion, Nurse is no country bumpkin. She holds a very important position with an important family in Verona. She is the Italian equivalent of a bright Cockney with all the same energetic vulgarity and warmth, and only interest in her life is Juliet and Juliet's happiness. A fairly simple premise. However the complications within part are tremendous. As so often with Shakespeare's major supporting parts, the subtext is very difficult to play. At the Royal Shakespeare Company we always have solus calls. It gives one the chance to work on personal problems without pressure. The time had come to look at Nurse in the scenes up to marriage of Romeo and Juliet. Nurse would be completely fulfilled if Juliet might be 'A happy Mother made'. Juliet is Nurse's life. In fact after Juliet's apparent death, Nurse fades out of the play. When Juliet is dead, there is no Nurse.
