On Wednesday 9th April, all one hundred and thirty third year students attended a screening of the newly released version of “Romeo and Juliet” in the I.F.I cinema in Temple Bar.
Directed by Carlo Carlei, the film starred Douglas Booth as Romeo and Hailee Steinfield as Juliet. It also featured “Homeland’s” Damian Lewis as Lord Capulet, Paul Giamatti as Friar Lawrence and Ed Westwick of “Gossip Girl” fame as the fiery Tybalt. Many girls agreed that Douglas Booth gave a very convincing portrayal of Shakepeare’s lovestruck hero, but they were less convinced by Steinfield’s performance as Juliet.
The film uses the traditional setting of Renaissance Verona with close attention given to the lavish background and costumes. However, while the film loosely follows the storyline of Shakespeare’s classic tale, a number of significant alterations were made to the script by screenwriter Julian Fellowes of “Downton Abbey” fame. These changes made for a lively discussion with students after the film on the merits of Shakespeare’s original text.
All students are studying “Romeo and Juliet” as part of their Junior Certificate Exam so the outing gave them a valuable opportunity to engage with and interpret their studied text on the silver screen. The English teachers would like to thank everyone who helped to make this trip a success.
