Romeo and Juliet on screen non-Shakespearean story. "Hamlet" and "Romeo and Juliet" are the two plays which have most often been used in this way. Usually, Shakespeare's story has some parallel or resonance with the main plot. Films featuring characters performing scenes from "Romeo and Juliet" include the 1912 and 1982 film versions of Charles Dickens' "Nicholas Nickleby", "Cured Hams" (1927), "Drama De Luxe" (1927), "Broadway Fever" (1928), "Les amants de Vérone" (1949), "Marjorie Morningstar" (1958), "Carry on Teacher" (1959) "Shakespeare Wallah" (1965) and, significantly, "Shakespeare in Love" (1998). The 1941 film Playmates features bandleader Kay Kyser and Shakespearean actor John Barrymore playing themselves in
Romeo and Juliet during which Shakespeare was London's dominant playwright. The date of the first performance is unknown. The First Quarto, printed in 1597, says that "it hath been often (and with great applause) plaid publiquely", setting the first performance before that date. The Lord Chamberlain's Men were certainly the first to perform it. Besides their strong connections with Shakespeare, the Second Quarto actually names one of its actors, Will Kemp, instead of Peter, in a line in Act Five. Richard Burbage was probably the first Romeo, being the company's actor, and Master Robert Goffe (a boy) the first Juliet. The premiere is