A scene from the 2009 Classical Theatre Project production of Romeo and Juliet. (Classical Theatre Project)

Toronto's Classical Theatre Project has discovered that Shakespeare is a little too bawdy for some parents in the city of Nashville, Tenn.

The company, which has performed productions of Twelfth Night, Macbeth and Oedipus Rex to more than 100,000 Ontario high school students, is in the country music capital this week to perform Romeo and Juliet.

Artistic director David Galpern says he was astonished by the reaction of some teachers and parents who saw the production Sunday night, when it was in dress rehearsal.

"They came to us with what appeared to be a list of objectionable moments that they wanted us to tone down before the students came on Monday," he told CBC News on Tuesday.

The Classical Theatre Project — with the motto "Shakespeare doesn't have to be boring" — had already toned down the performance of Mercutio, the most bawdy character in Romeo and Juliet, at the request of the local director of education who had invited them to Nashville.

"She came up to Toronto to see the show and she said to us, 'Just be aware that a Nashville audience is different from a Toronto audience.' That was our first indication," Galpern said.

The objections of the parents began with the first scene when the servant Sampson says "either the heads of the maids or their maidenheads, take it in what sense thou will" and makes a gesture.

Nor did they like naughty Mercutio's teasing line toward Juliet's nurse, in which he says "for the bawdy hand of the dial is now upon the prick of noon" and makes a lewd gesture toward himself.

The small group of parents who objected appeared to want to protect their children from the many sexual references Shakespeare slipped into his plays.

Cuts resisted

Galpern said he and director Charles Roy had to consider how much they want to alter the original tone of Shakespeare's work.

"It's definitely something that's called for in the text and that we're trying to express to our student audiences," Galpern said. "We had to decide, at what point do we want to tone down a show that's been shown to 100,000 people in the three years that we've been doing this?"

They declined to make further adjustments and went ahead with the show before 1,100 students Monday.

"There were 1,100 people in the audience and there was cheering and a standing ovation and applause," Galpern said.

The students appeared to love it, but the complaints kept coming. One mother said the program was too sexually explicit for her children, who she hoped would remain "pure."

But isn't Romeo and Juliet about teenage lovers and the extremes of emotion young people feel while in love?

"Country songs have more to say about carnality," Galpern said.

Classical Theatre Project plans to perform the play again in Nashville this week, then bring Romeo and Juliet back before Toronto audiences.

With files from CBC's Metro Morning