We had a three-hour window to get intimate! Romeo and Juliet at the National Arifa Akbar
Just over a year ago, Simon Godwin was all set to direct Romeo and Juliet at the National Theatre. The cast, including Josh O’Connor and Jessie Buckley as the star-crossed lovers, were just going into rehearsals when theatres went dark because of the Covid-19 pandemic. This production looked doomed to darkness, too.
But David Sabel, the producer who created NT Live, had an inspired idea, says Godwin. “There had been discussions between him and Rufus Norris [artistic director of the National] about transforming the space into a studio and doing something digital in a way that kept the essence of the stage.” It meant that the production could be seen, in its new form, by many more people than an auditorium allows. The film, with a starry cast including Tamsin Greig and Lucian Msamati, is broadcast on Sky Arts in the UK this weekend and on PBS for US audiences later in th
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