The play Romeo and Juliet was written by William Shakespeare early in his career, believed to be between 1591 and 1595
. It is one of Shakespeare's most popular and frequently performed plays, depicting the tragic romance between two young lovers from feuding families in Verona, Italy
. Shakespeare based the plot on earlier Italian and English sources, notably Arthur Brooke's narrative poem The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet (1562), which itself was derived from Italian tales by Matteo Bandello and others
. The play was first published in an unauthorized quarto in 1597, with authorized versions following later
