Franco Zeffirelli, Old Vic Theatre, 1961

Abstract

Zeffirelli was asked to direct Romeo and Juliet largely as a result of his recent work at Covent Garden. The management of the Old Vic was attracted as much by his talents as a designer of atmospheric Italian settings for Cavalleria Rusticana as by his skills as a director. Zeffirelli set about stripping away the accretions of outdated romantic conventions of acting and staging in an attempt to bring the play to life for a modern, primarily young, audience. His aim was to achieve a feeling of naturalism, essentially by providing appropriate visual expression to Shakespeare’s text.