“Romeo & Juliet” will screen 1 p.m., Mar. 3 at IU Cinema as part of National Theater Live, which according to the IU Cinema event website, seeks to bring excellence in live British theater to cinemas internationally. National Theater is British theater company famous for its productions of Shakespeare, as well as new and original productions.
“Romeo & Juliet,” (2021) directed by Simon Godwin, is National Theatre’s first foray into the film medium. The film was shot in 17 days on one stage during the height of quarantine and is a bold new direction for filmed theater.
Godwin was preparing an on-stage production of “Romeo and Juliet” at the National Theater when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. He transformed the play into a film to salvage the project, resulting in an innovative blend of theater and film, shot at the Lyttleton Theater in London, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Josh O’Connor, made famous by his breakout role as Prince Charles in “The Crown,” stars as Romeo, while Jessie Buckley, known for the films “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” and “Women Talking,” plays Juliet. Buckley received the Society of London Theater’s Laurence Olivier Award for excellence in professional theater in London in 2022.
The film captures a theatrical performance of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” and this film tells this famous tragedy in an entirely new way. While there have been hundreds of screen and stage adaptations of the famous play, Clive Davis of The Times writes, "this production has all the verve of a slickly edited movie, yet still exudes an aura of raw theatricality."
The Bloomington community can experience the best of theater at the IU Cinema. Student tickets are $12 and general tickets are $15, which are available at the IU Cinema website.
