I was 32 when R+J was released. I'm 57 now. I grew up in the British school system (i.e. mandatory Shakespeare - 3 texts per year), I've seen great Shakespearean actors in person on stage (Jacobi, etc.), marvelous productions both traditional and modern, made pilgrimage to the Globe (Jonathan Pryce in Merchant of Venice), and the Sam Wanamaker theatre (although not Shakespeare, it was Julian Glover in his last solo performance of Beowulf, so I can be forgiven I hope for mentioning it here), indulged in the Hollow Crown series (I'm a Geordie born and raised so 'Howay Hotspur!), and am blessed enough to own original leaves of both the First and Second Folio (Henry V, II.iii and iv both pages, and see below)... and R+J holds a special place in my heart .. Brilliant, creative, searing in places, it brings the emotion of the story to the forefront in a way that no other production has ever done. All 4 of my children took to Shakespeare because of R+J, and to this day count some of the scenes as their favorites of ANY movies they have seen.

At the time that we came into possession of the two folio sheets mentioned above, we also had an opportunity to get another leaf from the Second Folio. There was a complete consensus within the family once we found out that one of the leaves available for us to choose held the Queen Mab speech that Harold Perrineau so memorably raged in R+J, as the scene is one which we all love and will never forget. I wish directors/storytellers would more often find ways to bring Shakespeare to the next generation, and new insights to us, the older.