Shakespeare in Love (Again)

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, Hollywood once again intends to fill our screens with love stories that trace back through the centuries. Few influences loom as large as Shakespeare, whose explorations of romance — whether through star-crossed lovers or fiery enemy-to-lover dynamics — continue to shape modern storytelling. From teen rom-coms to lavish period dramas, his plays remain a blueprint for how love is brought to life in film. 

We all know the tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare’s tale has been retold so many times that its themes remain relevant today. Directors constantly reinvent the story through diverse adaptations, each bringing a unique and creative vision to the timeless romance.

What’s in a Borg? Romeo & Juliet’s Youthful Return to Broadway

All the world’s a stage, and in the world of Midtown Manhattan, star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet return to the Broadway stage in the play’s 37th rendition. The return of a Shakespeare classic has never been more timely. Starring Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler with music by Jack Antonoff and directed by Tony-winning Shakespeare veteran Sam Gold ’00, this latest adaptation is campy, interactive and all about the youth. 

Playing at the Circle in the Square Theatre, the show’s Generation Z target audience is staggeringly apparent. The tagline “The Youth Are Fucked” is visible all the way to the dimly lit lobby, which is more reminiscent of a nightclub than a Broadway theater — “Talk talk” by Charli xcx and Troye Sivan playing and all. Inside, the stage is small and minimally set, featuring several large teddy bears and a shopping cart filled with various stuffed animals.

‘Orlando’s Gift’ Brings Words to Life on Flex Theater Stage

“Ensemble” is a term directors and drama teachers love to champion, an ideal of individual cast members merged into a singular storytelling force. Rarely, though, does a production achieve this with as much flair and purpose as Orlando’s Gift, written and directed by Pulitzer Prize finalist Prof. David Feldshuh of performing and media arts. In this play, the concept of ensemble comes alive in the truest sense, with an electric cast embodying the spirit of camp in all its theatrical glory. From the very first look of the Orlando’s Gift set, Virginia Woolf’s presence and influence are palpable, with words from her novel Orlando scattered across the stage floor and sails suspended from masts, conjuring both her world and her eccentricity. This adaptation of Woolf’s celebrated work takes on the novel’s playfulness as well as its profound themes.

Girlboss or Gimmick: A Feminist Reboot of Shakespeare’s Classic

It’s a primal rite of passage for virtually every ninth-grader: ogling at the projector screen in English class while watching the 1996 adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, starring Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio. What else would you expect when you put a bunch of angsty, chatty teenagers in front of a steamy film about two lovers who marry the day after they first meet? As you’d guess, the back of the classroom was alive with snarky remarks from witty students eager to comment on the dramatic entanglement between the Montagues and Capulets. But what if those remarks were spun into an alternate plot where Juliet finds Romeo dead and chooses not to follow him in death, but instead breathes a sigh of relief, ready to run off to Paris and live the life she’s always dreamed of? A feminist ending crafted by none other than Anne Hathaway — Shakespeare’s wife?

PONTIN | ‘In Fair Verona’

“Romeo and Juliet” is a story that feels universal. I feel it would be an oversight, however, to designate it purely as a love story. It is an account of deep-rooted tension, of superfluous strife and of needless violence, with love riding along in a sidecar.

JONES | Shakespeare and Graduation

I’ll be seeing the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of King Lear in NYC this weekend, and with graduation approaching quickly, I feel in some small way the king’s anxiety. Lear lives past his time. He gives up a large part of his power to his daughters but fails to retain their loyalty. Cordelia, his most loyal and most mistreated daughter, then dies before him. In the final act of the play, he has lost his mind.

Ran: One of the Best Films Ever Made

With our attention more divided than ever by ubiquitous media, it’s easy to understand why some film critics feel the need to hyperbolize their positive, but by no means ecstatic, reactions so as to convince readers that the arduous journey to the theater might actually be worth it. However, Akira Kurosawa’s Ran, screening twice this week at the Cornell Cinema, requires no embellishment; while other Kurosawa films such Seven Samurai and Rashomon occupy a higher perch on the Sight & Sound rankings, make no mistake, Ran is still among the greatest films ever made. Charged with the virtuosic kineticism evident throughout the Japanese director’s oeuvre, Ran, an appropriation of King Lear, skillfully combines the pathetic nihilism of its Shakespearean source with the violent feudalism of Japanese legend. As a contemporary appropriation of medieval tales, Ran is an enrapturing example of the immersive, spectacular possibilities of cinema. After decades amassing a large empire, 70-year-old Lord Hidetora Ichimonji abdicates his throne in favor of the eldest of his three sons, but not without providing the younger two with their own castles by which to support their older brother.

Risley Theatre’s Julius Caesar: A Unique and Compelling Adaptation

Like Hemingway’s profound narrative on the destructive perplexity of war, or like Kubrick’s cinematic interpretations of subconscious struggle, Shakespeare’s tragedies possess an infinite relevance that will always characterize some portion of the human condition. Indeed, so long as individuals experience the dismay of death or the anguish of stifled romance, Shakespeare’s verse will continue to find a presence among stages and English curricula around the world. Many contemporary performances of his plays, while retaining the same lines and structure, adapt the work to a more modern setting; one notable example of this practice is Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 Romeo + Juliet, a splendid cross between sixteenth century and twentieth century 90’s culture. This is precisely the route that director Christian Brickhouse ’17 followed in Risley Theatre’s production of Julius Caesar. Rather than being left to unfold in the ancient and grand obscurity of the Roman Empire, this iteration of Julius Caesar is set in the United States during the year 1919.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised] at Schwartz

There is no artistic experience quite like going to the theatre. Each performance of a show functions as a unique entity, and there is a challenge in recreating it night after night with consistency. Part of this challenge naturally involves exploration of the many ways in which the audience can connect with the living, breathing actors who are the true substance of the play. At its best, a show can engage with the spectator in intimate ways that no other medium can match. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised] — which played on Feb.

Henry V: Agincourt on Cayuga

Henry V is unquestionably the most popular and widely performed of Shakespeare’s historical plays. On occasion, this produces a cheapening side-effect, à la Hamlet, in which certain lines and scenes become so ubiquitous that watching them fails to elicit any reaction beyond lukewarm recognition. Actors who play the role of Henry, not to mention the supporting cast of English and French knaves, poncy knights and lion-hearted barons, have their burdens doubled; what more is left to be said on the ultimate installment of the Henriad in a post-Kenneth Branagh world? The cast and crew of the Ithaca Shakespeare Company’s production, staged and performed in Ithaca’s own Hangar Theatre this February, are more than up to the challenge. It is abundantly clear, moreover, that they relished every second of creativity and dedication that went into the show’s production.