Romeo and Juliet Peter Ustinov's cold-war stage parody, "Romanoff and Juliet" was filmed. The 1961 film of "West Side Story"—set among New York gangs–featured the Jets as white youths, equivalent to Shakespeare's Montagues, while the Sharks, equivalent to the Capulets, are Puerto Rican. In 2006, Disney's "High School Musical" made use of "Romeo and Juliet" plot, placing the two young lovers in different high school cliques instead of feuding families. Film-makers have frequently featured characters performing scenes from "Romeo and Juliet". The conceit of dramatising Shakespeare writing "Romeo and Juliet" has been used several times, including John Madden's 1998 "Shakespeare in Love", in
Romeo and Juliet the play's "twin themes of love and the total breakdown of understanding between two generations" had contemporary relevance. Recent performances often set the play in the contemporary world. For example, in 1986, the Royal Shakespeare Company set the play in modern Verona. Switchblades replaced swords, feasts and balls became drug-laden rock parties, and Romeo committed suicide by hypodermic needle. In 1997, the Folger Shakespeare Theatre produced a version set in a typical suburban world. Romeo sneaks into the Capulet barbecue to meet Juliet, and Juliet discovers Tybalt's death while in class at school. The play is sometimes given a historical