William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Read here all the articles published on ROMEO and JULIET.

Opening of the Zuoz Globe with ROMEO and JULIET in Telesguard, 9.12.2011 (6:30).

Opening of the Zuoz Globe with ROMEO and JULIET in the Evening News, 13.12.2011.

 

PROLOGUE

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whole misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove.

After Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” “Romeo und Juliet” is the most popular and most famous drama in the history of theatre. The fate of the star-crossed lovers has moved audiences over the centuries and has inspired artists of all genres. Among others it has been the creative inspiration for operatic interpretations by Bellini, Gounod, Prokofiev or Bernstein. This work has outlasted all fashions and countless adaptations: sometimes even the tragic outcome of the drama was twisted around to become a cheerful happy ending.

DEATH – MARKED LOVE

Shakespeare did not invent the story – the subject was very popular in Renaissance times. However, he condensed the plot, compressing the events of months into a breathless course of four days and nights and thus creating the impression of tragic inevitability. He gives his play a Mediterranean, passionate atmosphere and tells the events with a stringent dramatic relevance which still convinces today’s audiences. He draws the lovers with great intensity: their unconditional love ends in disaster when confronted with the inevitable conflict of circumstances.   

Another detail marks the extraordinary heroes of Shakespeare’s: their youth. Juliet is fourteen, Romeo only slightly older. Their youth becomes a leitmotiv: in Zuoz we stage the play with very young actors who are not much older than Shakespeare’s heroes – a bold experiment in our new theatre. We look forward to the performance!

THE ZUOZ GLOBE INVITES ITS AUDIENCE

500 years after Gian Travers the Zuoz Globe revives the old theatre culture of Zuoz. The Zuoz Globe – designed by Graubünden architects Gasser Derungs – is an original stage construction which fits effortlessly into the oldest part of the Lyceum Alpinum. Made from local larch, it is a flexible theatre space which alludes to and freshly interprets Shakespeare’s Globe.

THE DIRECTOR GIOVANNI NETZER

Giovanni Netzer, Theologian, Art Historian and Theatre Director with a PhD, has a long career as author, director and producer of his own theatre productions. He is the initiator and director of Origen, the biggest culture festival in the Canton of Graubünden. Giovanni Netzer holds several sponsorship and cultural awards, among them the Hans-Reinhart Ring 2007 and the main prize of the Eliette-von-Karajan Cultural Fund 2008.

Photo Gallery: photographs Benjamin Hofer

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