Romeo and Juliet and he climbs the balcony with the help of his servant, Julia and the nurse (the servants discreetly withdraw after this). Nevertheless, in October 2014, Lois Leveen speculated in "The Atlantic" that the original Shakespeare play did not contain a balcony. The word, "balcone", did not exist in the English language until two years after Shakespeare's death. The balcony was certainly used in Thomas Otway's 1679 play, "The History and Fall of Caius Marius", which had borrowed much of its story from "Romeo and Juliet" and placed the two lovers in a balcony reciting a speech similar to that between
Romeo and Juliet original storyline. Professional performances of Shakespeare in the mid-19th century had two particular features: firstly, they were generally star vehicles, with supporting roles cut or marginalised to give greater prominence to the central characters. Secondly, they were "pictorial", placing the action on spectacular and elaborate sets (requiring lengthy pauses for scene changes) and with the frequent use of tableaux. Henry Irving's 1882 production at the Lyceum Theatre (with himself as Romeo and Ellen Terry as Juliet) is considered an archetype of the pictorial style. In 1895, Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson took over from Irving and laid the groundwork for a more