 In 1933 , the play was revived by actress Katharine Cornell and her director husband Guthrie McClintic and was taken on a seven @-@ month nationwide tour throughout the United States . It starred Orson Welles , Brian Aherne and Basil Rathbone . The production was a modest success , and so upon the return to New York , Cornell and McClintic revised it and for the first time , the play was presented with almost all the scenes intact , including the Prologue . The new production opened in December 1934 with Ralph Richardson as Mercutio and Maurice Evans as Romeo . Critics wrote that Cornell was " the finest Juliet of her time " , " endlessly haunting " , and " the most lovely and enchanting Juliet our present @-@ day theatre has seen " . 
