Actual run-times of a performance of William Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet, may vary widely. In the Prologue, it is mentioned that the play will take about two hours, but directors can and do make stylistic changes which can make a play shorter or longer. Factors such as stage directions, scene or dialogue omissions, or interpretations (such as a modern setting) can play a big part in how long it takes from curtains' rise to curtains' fall.
The content of the play itself takes place over the course of just about three-and-a-half days! When we read the play, we easily lose our sense of time, and it may even seem impossible that so much could happen in the span of not even four days. In a stage performance, the course of events may make the passage of time a little bit clearer, but I can say from experience that I have lost my sense of time while watching a performance.
On this timeline, Robert Delaney does a great job of breaking down the passage of time as indicated by the text of Romeo and Juliet.
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