Open Writing

"More has been written about Shakespeare than he ever wrote himself. From schoolboys to dons, from scholars to scientists, the volume of critical analysis grows and grows." Thus wrote Sir Donald Wolfit, one of the greatest Shakespearian actors, who was born just five doors down the road from where I happened to be born in Newark-on-Trent 34 years later.

Please bear with me while I add to the flow of words. Watching two DVDs has inspired this. They are Franco Zeffirelli's remarkable1968 film of Romeo and Juliet and Melyvn Bragg's very informative 2002 TV series The Adventure of English, of which Episode 4 deals with Shakespeare's contribution to the language.

Zeffirelli's 1960 production of the play at the Old Vic theatre starred Judi Dench, aged 25, and John Stride, aged 23, perhaps the youngest Juliet and Romeo to have been seen on the stage until then. He went on to make his film on the basis that "the kids in the story are like teenagers today". It was thus that he chose Leonard Whiting, aged 17, and Olivia Hussey, 15, to play the main roles.

Chosen from 350 candidates, Olivia Hussey was then an unknown in the world of acting. Leonard Whiting had already played the role of the Artful Dodger in the Lionel Bart musical Oliver!. That was for a limited period, because boys had to be replaced when their voices broke. I narrowly missed seeing him when I saw the wonderful production in London in 1964. As with The Sound of Music, the original stage production was superior in some ways to the film.

Some reviewers were not happy with the difficulty the young stars had with enunciation, and their apparent lack of understanding of Shakespeare's language. Previous film versions had starred adults who were mature actors. Strangely enough, it was innovative to have, instead, young kids playing the roles of young kids.

As for their halting delivery of Shakespeare's lines, my own feeling is that it made them more believable, as spoken by young teenagers fumbling for words. Leonard Whiting's post-Cockney London accent is not a deterrent, and Olivia Hussey's coyly innocent speech is perfect for the role. We have to remember that in the original story Juliet is aged only 13 and Romeo is just a little older.

It might also be relevant to keep in mind that in Shakespeare's time all female roles were played by boys. Given the amount of bawdy and sexually suggestive conversation in the play, it might be classified by some folk as akin to child porn. That would not be anything new. The infamous editor Thomas Bowdler (1754–1825) censored all indications of "profaneness or obscenity" in his family version of the plays.

Mr Bowdler would probably turn in his grave if he knew about Franco Zeffirelli's version of the bedroom scene where the two young lovers are naked. If I recall aright, at least one reviewer declared that he, or she, didn't want to see so much of Leonard Whiting's bum. However, to quote another writer, "their youth makes the infatuation scene more credible... Their beauty is beyond question".

The sheer size of the production and the lavish presentation of the fight scenes were also criticised. For me, however, they add life, relevance, and a sense of reality. One of the images that stayed with me, after I first saw the film, 30 years ago, was of the sand and dust rising from the village square, when the fights took place.

We'll have a look at the language and words in the next article in this series.

© Copyright Brian Barratt 2009

of Shakespeare, Spring Books, London 1958.
Boyce, C., Encyclopedia of Shakespeare, Roundtable Press/Facts of File, New York, 1990.
Bragg, Melvyn, The Adventure of English, DVD, Granada International/ Special Broadcasting Corporation, 2002.
Rosenthal, D., Shakespeare on Screen, Octopus/Hamlyn, London, 2000.
Zeffirelli, F., director, Romeo and Juliet, DVD, Paramount Pictures, 1968.