This summer, the Globe stage transforms into the Wild West for a new production of Romeo and Juliet (directed by Sean Holmes, Globe Associate Artistic Director). Featuring a talented and diverse cast, the tragedy of two ‘star-crossed lovers’ unfolds in a violent world of cowboy, saloon brawls and shootouts. Behind the romanticised lore of frontier justice lies an incredibly rich and complex history. 

For many, the American ‘Wild West’ conjures an image of cowboys, traversing a vast and dangerous wilderness in search of adventure. In reality, the American West refers to a period in the nineteenth century when men, women and children migrated westwards in search of land and opportunities. Much of this land was already occupied by Indigenous American communities, and the mythology surrounding the colonisation of the American West often framed it as a process of civilisation instead of violent conquest. Cowboys played a key role in this colonial expansion, driving cattle into these western territories. As media representations of the ‘Western Frontier’ became more popular, the cowboy came to function as a symbol of white masculinity and American exceptionalism.  

In popular culture, representations of the American West have tended to downplay the diversity of this historical period, often erasing the stories of Indigenous Americans, people of colour and women. Historians estimate that at least one quarter of all cowboys during this period were Black men, and Indigenous Americans also made up a considerable number of this community. The Black cowboy Nat Love, also known as ‘Deadwood Dick’, even achieved a degree of fame and was celebrated in western lore. In 1907, he published an extravagant autobiography, tracing his journey from enslavement to the world of cowboys and rodeos. Yet, cowboys of colour have often been underrepresented in portrayals of the Wild West.  

In recent years, there has been an increased effort to recognise the diversity of cowboy culture through twenty-first-century pop culture. The Yeehaw Agenda, founded in 2018 by Bri Malandro, documents the reclamation of Black cowboy culture through music, film and fashion. For example, a number of Black artists have achieved great success in the country music genre. In 2019, Lil Nas X rose to fame with his single ‘Old Town Road’, and the remix featuring Billy Ray Cyrus won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Music Video at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards. Initially set in 1889, the ‘Official Movie’ for the remix opens with Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus escaping pursuit on horseback, before being transported (in full cowboy couture) to modern-day America. Despite the widespread success of ‘Old Town Road’, the track was excluded from Billboard’s ‘Hot Country Songs’ chart, reflecting a wider pattern in which people of colour are erased from country and cowboy culture.  

The recent success of Beyoncé’s album Cowboy Carter, which won Best Country Album and Album of the Year at the 2025 Grammy awards, has reignited a fascination with Black cowboy culture. Cowboy Carter was not Beyoncé’s first foray into the country music genre, having released ‘Daddy Lessons’ as part of her 2016 album Lemonade. Nevertheless, her initial experimentation with the country genre received a mixed reception, and ‘Daddy Lessons’ was rejected by the Grammys Recording Academy committee for country music. In a later Instagram post, Beyoncé would allude to ‘an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed’ as the inspiration for Cowboy Carter. This album was an act of reclamation, and it served as a vital reminder that Black culture is ingrained in the history of cowboys and country culture. As Francesca T. Royster reminds us, ‘country music and culture is also Black culture’, and the two are historically intertwined. 

Alongside the music industry, film and television has increasingly explored the stories of Black cowboys or Western figures throughout history. Early Western Hollywood films typically represented cowboys as white men, although there were occasional interventions in casting. Recently, however, several films have focused specifically on cowboys of colour. Released in 2021, The Harder They Fall is a fictionalisation of the lives of historical cowboys, including Nat ‘Deadwood Dick’ Love and Crawford ‘Cherokee Bill’ Goldsby. According to the director and co-writer Jeymes Samuel, the film was intended to highlight the role that Black Americans played in shaping the American West. In the same year, Concrete Cowboy would draw attention to a real community of Black equestrians in North Philadelphia, which has existed for over 100 years. Based on the novel Ghetto Cowboy by Gregory Neri, the film emphasised how Black cowboy culture has provided a much-need space for young people in urban areas.  

Several productions of Shakespeare’s plays have taken the Wild West as their inspiration. In 1994, the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park staged a production of The Merry Wives of Windsor set in late-nineteenth-century Idaho. Directed by Daniel Sullivan and performed at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, the production featured an elaborate wooden ‘Wild West’ set, including a sawdust floor and a stereotypical western saloon. In 2002, Bartlett Sher’s Cymbeline at the Lucille Lortel Theater in New York reimagined the Welsh countryside near Milford Haven as the American West. More recently, Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park staged a cowboy Macbeth, while the Oregon Shakespeare Festival adapted Measure for Measure to speak to the troubling history of Indigenous boarding schools in the American West. 

The fascinating, diverse and often disturbing history of the Wild West provides a rich backdrop for Romeo and Juliet. The ‘ancient grudge’ between the Capulets and Montagues gains new force in this contested space, where violence is often the solution to divided communities. 

Romeo and Juliet, directed by Sean Holmes, opens Friday 25 April 2025. 

FINIS.