Shakespeare in Gaza: Pamela Laskin’s “Ronit and Jamil”

BROOKLYN COLLEGE–There is no story in the Western canon more imitated than “Romeo and Juliet”. Its earnest and fevered description of young love torn apart by petty family rivalry — and its ubiquity on ninth-grade English curricula — has made it a frequent subject for parody and homage, some better than others. (Remember “Gnomeo and Juliet”? No? You’re not missing out.)

The latest entrant to throw their hat into the ring is Pamela L. Laskin, an English lecturer at City College of New York, whose 2017 book “Ronit and Jamil” plucked the star-crossed lovers out of Verona and into the modern-day West Bank. Laskin and a group of City College of New York students are putting on a staged reading of the book in the Woody Tanger auditorium this Thursday, March 22, as part of Brooklyn College’s “We Stand Against Hate” series.

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