Overview
Context
The Nurse addresses Lady Capulet and a young Juliet in a private room of the Capulet house, launching into a winding, highly personal memory about Juliet's childhood. Triggered by Lady Capulet's inquiry about Juliet's exact age before the upcoming holiday, the Nurse becomes completely absorbed in reminiscing about weaning Juliet eleven years prior. This moment matters emotionally because it highlights the Nurse's deep, maternal bond with Juliet—having lost her own daughter Susan—and establishes her role as Juliet's true emotional caretaker rather than her distant biological mother.
The character's objective is to celebrate Juliet's growth and assert her own central place in Juliet's life through affectionate, nostalgic storytelling. The actor must embrace the character's scatterbrained, loquacious nature, ensuring that the repetitive digressions feel like a genuine flood of fond memories rather than memorized text. Strong performances often showcase a warm, earthy physical energy and a comfort with crude, working-class humor, shifting from the grief of losing her own child to the bawdy joy of a shared family joke. The character may feel a profound sense of pride and love, using her chatter to delay the formal, serious talk of marriage.
Text
Even or odd, of all days in the year,
Come Lammas Eve at night shall she be fourteen.
Susan and she (God rest all Christian souls!)
Were of an age. Well, Susan is with God;
She was too good for me. But, as I said,
On Lammas Eve at night shall she be fourteen;
That shall she, marry; I remember it well.
'Tis since the earthquake now eleven years;
And she was weaned (I never shall forget it),
Of all the days of the year, upon that day;
For I had then laid wormwood to my dug,
Sitting in the sun under the dovehouse wall.
My lord and you were then at Mantua.
Nay, I do bear a brain. But, as I said,
When it did taste the wormwood on the nipple
Of my dug and felt it bitter, pretty fool,
To see it tetchy and fall out with the dug!
Shake, quoth the dovehouse! 'Twas no need, I trow,
To bid me trudge.
And since that time it is eleven years,
For then she could stand high-lone; nay, by th' rood,
She could have run and waddled all about;
For even the day before, she broke her brow;
And then my husband (God be with his soul!
'A was a merry man) took up the child.
'Yea,' quoth he, 'dost thou fall upon thy face?
Thou wilt fall backward when thou hast more wit;
Wilt thou not, Jule?' and, by my holidam,
The pretty wretch left crying and said 'Ay.'
To see now how a jest shall come about!
I warrant, an I should live a thousand years
I never should forget it. 'Wilt thou not, Jule?' quoth he,
And, pretty fool, it stinted and said 'Ay.'
Performance Tips
- Honor the punctuation and the parenthetical digressions; the humor comes from the Nurse's inability to tell a straight story, so make each memory feel completely spontaneous.
- Root the character's behavior in deep, unconditional love for Juliet, using physical affection or glances to show that Juliet is the center of her universe.
Emotional Beat Breakdown
1. Nostalgic Digression
- What shifts: The Nurse completely derails Lady Capulet's formal question about age with a torrent of domestic memories.
- Playable action: To relive the cherished, earthy details of Juliet's infancy and honor her own lost daughter.
- Performance note: Lean into the warmth and physical comfort of an old storyteller, letting the references to the earthquake and wormwood feel lived-in and real.
2. The Bawdy Memory
- What shifts: The focus centers on a specific, humorous anecdote involving her late husband and a toddler Juliet.
- Playable action: To delight her listeners and celebrate Juliet's early innocence with a crude but loving family jest.
- Performance note: Deliver the husband's punchline with a robust, unforced laugh, showing a complete lack of aristocratic filter.
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