RALPH: It's the final scene of Act one, and it's a crucial one. The Capulets are throwing a huge party, and Romeo and his buddies are sneaking in. Everyone at the party will be wearing masks, so they figure that no one will know if some Montagues have found their way in. Benvolio thinks sneaking into the party is a great idea. He's trying to get Romeo's mind off his infatuation with Rosaline. There will be lots of other beautiful young women at the party. And Romeo is willing to go because it's one more chance to see Rosaline. But as we learned at the end of the last scene, he also has a sense of foreboding that something bad is going to happen as a result of events that start at this party. I guess we'll find out. But first we have a party to report on. And who better to hear from than the host of the party himself? For more on that, let's go to Sarah. 

SARAH: Thanks, Ralph. That's right. I'm joined by Old Capulet if I may, and his nephew Tybalt. Welcome back. 

CAPULET: Thanks Sarah. 

SARAH: So you are having a party? 

CAPULET: Yes. We like to do this sort of thing in Verona. Tonight it's a kind of summer harvest feast. 

SARAH: So there'll be lots of eating and drinking. 

CAPULET: Oh sure. Of course. But mostly dancing. It's all about the dancing, Sarah. 

SARAH: So you'll be dancing yourself, I take it? 

CAPULET: Oh no, I'm too old for that now. It's been what, maybe 25 years since the last time I danced in a mask. 

SARAH: Actually like 30, according to my notes. 

CAPULET: No way. 30? Whoa. Anyhow, I like to see the kids have fun. This is for them. 

SARAH: Well, Tybalt, is it true? Are these parties as much fun as your uncle says they are? 

TYBALT: Oh, yeah they're fantastic. Assuming there are no problems. 

CAPULET: Problems? What problems? You mean the heat? I admit it can get hot in the room. Summers in Verona. 

SARAH: Well actually a little problem does develop. The party goers are wearing masks, but that doesn't stop you, Tybalt, from recognizing the voice of somebody in particular. 

TYBALT: That's right. It's Romeo. A Montague. 

SARAH: A sworn enemy. And you immediately call for your rapier. Bit of an extreme response, isn't it? 

TYBALT: Now by the stock and honor of my kin, to strike him dead I hold it not a sin. 

SARAH: Stock and honor of your kin? 

TYBALT: I owe it to my ancestors to call him out on the spot. 

CAPULET: You'll do no such thing. All Verona knows he's a good kid. I'd rather lose all my wealth than do him dishonor in my house. So calm down, and enjoy the party. 

TYBALT: How can I enjoy the party when my enemy is an uninvited guest? I won't let him get away with it. 

CAPULET: That's exactly what you'll do. Whose house is this, huh? And what about all my other guests. You want to turn the party into a brawl? 

SARAH: Tybalt? 

TYBALT: I will withdraw. But this intrusion shall, now seeming sweet, convert to bitterest gall. 

SARAH: I'm sorry? 

TYBALT: This isn't over. 

SARAH: Ralph, perhaps we should check in with your end of things? 

RALPH: Good thinking, Sarah. Let's check in with Romeo. So Romeo. What is it? 

ROMEO: Ralph. I've just seen the most beautiful woman. 

RALPH: Yes, I know. I mean we'll get to that. You've just arrived at the Capulet party. With your friends. You've all got masks on, of course. So you're assuming that no one will realize that you're a Montague. And just to review, you've come to this party to catch a glimpse of the beautiful Rosaline. 

ROMEO: She's so—so luminescent. It's like she's the source of all light, like she teaches the torches to burn bright. 

RALPH: Yes. I'm sure she's quite beautiful. 

ROMEO: It's like she's a snowy dove surrounded by a bunch of crows. 

RALPH: I think I'm getting the picture. If we could just—

ROMEO: When she's done dancing I have to find a way to hold her hand. 

RALPH: Okay. Romeo. If we could talk about this for a second. You've come to this party because you're already in love with Rosaline. Remember her? 

ROMEO: Who? 

RALPH: Rosaline? The young woman you've been obsessed with. You came to this party to catch a glimpse of Rosaline. Aren't you in love with her? 

ROMEO: Did my heart love till now? Forswear it sight. For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night. Juliet, man, Juliet. 

RALPH: OK. We're moving on. Just like that. I guess Benvolio was right. So OK, she stopped dancing. And you decide to make your move. Which is what, exactly? 

ROMEO: To touch her hand. To bless my hand by touching hers. 

RALPH: That's right. And to see just how that goes, we'll be connecting to Sarah in her studio, where she has the young lady in question. 

ROMEO: Wait. What? 

RALPH: Just take a look at the monitor, right there. Sarah can you hear us? 

ROMEO: Oh my god. That's her. 

SARAH: Yes, Ralph. Loud and clear. Do you see them? 

JULIET: Is that him? Hi. 

ROMEO: Hey. 

RALPH: So Romeo. Romeo? 

ROMEO: Yes? 

RALPH: So there you are. She stopped dancing. And you go up to her, hoping to touch her hand with your hand. Tell us what you say? 

ROMEO: If I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine the gentle fine is this. My lips, two blushing pilgrims ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss. 

SARAH: Oh, my. That's quite the pickup line. 

JULIET: Isn't it? 

RALPH: Stay focused, Sarah. So let's talk a little more about what this means. Romeo. What's all this about holy shrines, and fines, and pilgrims? 

ROMEO: She's divine, Ralph, just look at her. She's like a goddess. 

RALPH: I see, so she is like a holy shrine. And you're a pilgrim who's come to visit a religious site, like a church or something. 

ROMEO: Except my hand it's—it's just an ordinary hand. 

RALPH: It's not worth touching something so special like her hand. 

ROMEO: Yeah, well it would be a gentle sin. Not really a big deal. It's one that I could fix. 

RALPH: You can make up for it somehow, you mean. 

ROMEO: Yeah. My lips. Two blushing pilgrims ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss. 

RALPH: How generous. Sarah, how is the young lady handling this come on? 

SARAH: Yes, dear. Your turn. What do you say? 

JULIET: Good pilgrim. You do wrong your hand too much, which mannerly devotion shows in this. For saints have hands that pilgrims hands to touch, and palm to palm as holy Palmer's kiss. 

SARAH: Oh you're a clever girl. You take this shrine and pilgrim business in stride. And make it clear you won't be won over too easily. 

JULIET: Yes, I suppose you could put it that way. I mean, it's normal for pilgrims to touch saint's relics. And so a Pilgrim's hand to a Saint's hand is a holy palmers kiss. It's kind of like how they kiss. 

SARAH: And since hands can kiss like that, there's no need for lips. 

ROMEO: Have not saint's lips in holy palmers, too? 

RALPH: That's right, Sarah. Don't saints and pilgrims have lips, too? Why are we only talking about hands? 

JULIET: Aye, pilgrim. Lips that they must use in prayer. 

SARAH: Did you hear that, Ralph? Use your lips for praying. 

ROMEO: Oh then, dear saint let lips do what hands do. They pray. Grant thou lest faith turned to despair. 

RALPH: That's right. So if hands can kiss, palm to palm, like saints and pilgrims, why not lips to lips? 

SARAH: So now we've gone from proposing a kiss on the hand to a kiss on the lips? 

RALPH: This guy's pretty smooth. What does Juliet say? 

JULIET: Saints do not move, though grant for prayer sake. 

RALPH: I'm not sure I follow. 

SARAH: Oh, come on. Does she really have to spell it out for you, Ralph? She's saying she's not going to make the first move. 

ROMEO: Then move not while my prayers effect I take. 

RALPH: And then you kiss her. 

ROMEO: Thus from my lips by yours, my sin is purged. 

RALPH: Like the Saint does for the pilgrim, she's taken your sin from your lips. 

JULIET: Then have my lips the sin that they have took. 

SARAH: That sin is on her lips now? 

ROMEO: Sin from my lips, oh trespass sweetly urged, give me my sin again. 

RALPH: Did you get that, Sarah. 

SARAH: Yes, Ralph. Sounds like he kisses her again. 

JULIET: You kiss by the book. 

RALPH: He kisses by the book? What does that mean? Is that a good thing? 

SARAH: Yes, Ralph. I think that's a good thing. Sounds like he kisses like he knows what he's doing. 

RALPH: By the way, I just have to point out that the lines that these two have exchanged forms a perfect sonnet. Did you know that? 

ROMEO: Every word she speaks is poetry, if that's what you mean. 

SARAH: I'm sorry, Ralph but she has to get going now. 

ROMEO: What? No way. 

SARAH: Yes, it's right at the end of this exchange that her mother calls. Go ahead you can take. It we'll talk more later. 

ROMEO: What happened, Ralph? Where'd she go? 

RALPH: Sorry, it's a little fast here. The two of you have only just met, and it seems that you've fallen instantly and madly in love. But then her mother calls. 

ROMEO: Her mother. Who is her mother? 

RALPH: That's a bit of bad news. It turns out her mother is the hostess of this party that you're crashing. 

ROMEO: What? She's a Capulet? Oh, then I owe my life to my enemy. 

RALPH: Yes, it's a strange turn of events. It's then that Benvolio suggests that maybe this is a good time to leave the party, get out while you're still ahead, so to speak. 

ROMEO: Yeah. And it might be trouble if I stick around now. 

RALPH: Let's go back to Sarah. 

JULIET: I'm sorry. Is he gone now? 

SARAH: Yes. Sorry but he had to go. 

JULIET: Do you know his name? 

SARAH: Yes. About that. 

JULIET: Could you ask him? He better not be married. I'll die if I can't marry him. 

SARAH: Well, actually, there's good news and there's bad news. He's not married. But his name's Romeo. He's a Montague. The only son of your father's worst enemy. 

ROMEO: What? My only love sprung from my only hate? Too early seen unknown, and known too late. 

SARAH: You saw him before you knew who he was, and when you found out who he was, it was too late. 

JULIET: Prodigious birth of love it is to me. That I must love a loathed enemy. 

SARAH: Yes, this might be tricky. Chin up. I'm sure everything will—I mean, at least you're in love, right?