Romeo And Julietis arguably the most well-known and beloved tale of romance in recorded history.

Unless of course you’re looking at it from the perspective of high school students, most of whom want to burn the damn thing. Bell Shakespeare is once again revitalising this powerhouse of literary canon with the beauty and finesse that Sydney has come to expect of its local company. Leading lady Kelly Paterniti speaks about the new production and why people still care about a 400-year-old play.

“The language is beautiful and I think people are drawn to the literature and the poetry,” she says. “With Romeo And Juliet, I think everybody can relate to it in some way and it really transcends time. It’s this beautiful love story about two people who aren’t able to be together due to a conflict that has nothing to do with them. And I suppose also because it’s so tragic – everybody knows the story going in and the eventual outcome. It makes their love more tragic, more heartbreaking and the way they communicate like a fairytale. It’s what everyone hopes for, but without the tragic end.”

Indeed, it speaks volumes that audiences are still drawn to the play centuries later, particularly when they know things are going to end in a horrible mess of missed messages, poison and blood. And let’s not forget the part where a friar helps a 14-year-old Quaalude herself.

“It sums up life really, doesn’t it?” Paterniti says. “It’s very bittersweet – you have these beautiful moments that you know will end, and I think that makes it more magical because you know they only have this very short amount of time in which these two lovers can be together and fall in love. You want them to have as much time as possible and you secretly hope that maybe it won’t end, but you know that it will.”

Despite the age and historical context of Romeo And Juliet, it continues to embody universal themes that seem to transcend time. It’s for this very reason that it continues to haunt the high school curriculum and be the bane of every young adult’s existence. But regardless of time periods, love is still love and teenagers are still hormone-fuelled crazy people – it seems fitting the story is kept alive for them alone, if not anyone else. Have we all forgotten that Romeo was obsessed with some chick named Rosaline about a week before he poisoned himself over Juliet?

“We’ve been having a lot of conversations about time and there’s a very specific reference to it in the play about what time and when,” says Paterniti. “But Shakespeare has this really beautiful way of making it seem elongated, which is what it can feel like sometimes when you first fall in love – it feels like you’ve known this person for a really long time.

“In regards to the contemporary, I think we’re a lot less romantic than that these days, but I think it’s actually quite fitting if you think of their age and what it was like for you when you were 14 – it was all or nothing. You wanted all the experiences at once. Teenagers are rash, and that’s the whole point of what being a kid is. You act without thinking of the consequences. I think in that sort of regard Romeo And Juliet is still relevant. Plus of course, as you say, there’s the old argument of, ‘If they had just waited a few days they would have settled down,’” she laughs.

Bell Shakespeare is known around the world for its unique approach to the Bard’s works and for its particularly magnificent set design and costuming. When a play has been performed and reinvented as many times as this one, you begin to wonder how a company can keep it fresh, unique and exciting for audiences. Sometimes going back to the true roots of a work can be the answer.

“The design is very special, I think it’s going to be very beautiful – the designers have done an amazing job,” says Paterniti. “We are setting it in the Elizabethan period. I think since it’s a production that has been modernised so much, it’s going to be fascinating to see it set in its traditional setting. We were talking about how lovely it’s been to set it in the time that it was written, because you don’t have to argue anything – it’s all relevant and makes sense. I think that’s going to be interesting for an audience too, to see it that way. Bell Shakespeare is so good at connecting modern audiences to Shakespeare, which is why so many things are brought into contemporary times.”

Of course, as adept as Bell Shakespeare is at exciting contemporary audiences, overwhelming them with beauty and helping them easily relate to Shakespeare’s stories, characters and themes, Paterniti believes the majority of the credit should go to the text itself.

“The play is just so beautiful that it’s going to do a lot of the work for us, and if we stay true to the emotions of the story we won’t have to do a whole lot. People love it, people want to see it and they’re moved by it. Honestly, the more I read this play the more I see it as a complete work of art.”

Romeo And Juliet runsSaturday February 20 – Sunday March 27 atPlayhouse, Sydney Opera House.

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