Shakespeare Today
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Hulu's New Movie Rosaline
A take on Shakespeare's Infamous Tale Romeo and Juliet, but with a twist!
Kaitlyn Dever stars as Rosaline, a young noblewoman who is the niece of the very important Lord Capulet. Rosaline is in the midst of a secret, torrid romance with the dreamy Romeo (Kyle Allen), the son of the House of Montague, whom are fierce rivals with the Capulets. (This likely all sounds familiar to anyone who took a 9th-grade English course.)
Rosaline invites Romeo to a Capulet masquerade ball, a chance for an anonymous date in a public setting. But she gets held up on a date set up by her father (Bradley Whitford) with a handsome suitor named Dario (Sean Teale). Ditched by Rosaline, Romeo meets a beautiful woman named Juliet (Isabela Merced) at the ball, aka Rosaline’s cousin. Romeo stops returning Rosaline’s letters, stops visiting her, and starts visiting Juliet’s window instead.
Rosaline, heartbroken, attempts to sabotage their relationship. She tells Juliet that Romeo is a player and encourages her to keep her options open. She convinces her best friend Paris (Spencer Stevenson)—who, in this version of Romeo and Juliet, is the stereotypical gay best friend—to propose to Juliet, to use her as a beard. But Romeo keeps writing to Juliet heartfelt letters—far more heartfelt than he ever was with Rosaline. And when Juliet finds out that Romeo is Rosaline’s ex, she’s understandably furious.
The events of Romeo and Juliet more or less play out: Romeo and Juliet secretly wed. Romeo duels with Juliet’s cousin Tybalt and kills him, and their secret marriage is revealed. Juliet comes up with a plan to run away with her husband: She will take a potion that will put her in a death-like coma. She sends a message to Romeo explaining her plan. Of course, the message never reaches Romeo.
Source: Menta, Anna. "Hulu’s ‘Rosaline’ Gives Romeo and Juliet a Happy Ending… Kinda" Decider, 14 Oct 2022. https://decider.com/2022/10/14/rosaline-ending-explained-romeo-juliet-happy-hulu/
The Container Globe – Architectural Design of a Unique Theatre Venue
- Above is a rendering and introduction to a contemporary rethinking of creating a mobile Globe theatre from thecontainerglobe.com
A Smorgasbord of Shakespeare, With Some New Trimmings
Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga head to Broadway in “Macbeth,” while “Fat Ham” and “Misdemeanor Dream” aim to lend contemporary context to classic plays.
The 2021 American historical thriller film The Tragedy of Macbeth, written, directed and produced by Joel Coen, follows the story of Macbeth by the original playwright William Shakespeare. This film is the first directed by Joel Coen without his brother's involvement in the production. Denzel Washington, Bertie Carvel, Alex Hassell, Corey Hawkins, Harry Melling, Kathryn Hunter, and Brendan Gleeson, and Frances McDormand (another producer of the film) all star in the film.