SHAKESPEARE UNCOVERED
ROMEO & JULIET WITH JOSEPH FIENNES
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14 @ 7:00PM
Fiennes has a unique perspective on Romeo and Juliet. He played Shakespeare – both writing and performing as Romeo – in the film Shakespeare in Love. Now he wants to examine why it remains the most-performed of all Shakespeare plays.
Fiennes takes us back to the source – an Italian story translated into English when Shakespeare was a boy. Shakespeare adapted and dramatized the Italian poem, and other writers have been adapting him for centuries ever since. At London’s Royal Ballet, viewers see the play in a famous dance interpretation, and later Stephen Sondheim discusses adapting for the Broadway musical theater as West Side Story. Fiennes visits adult night classes at a South London school where the participants can see their own lives reflected in the play.
