The National Theatre’s made-for-screen production of Romeo and Juliet (currently available on Sky Arts) has been delighting theatre-starved Shakespeare fans over the past week. Starring Josh O’Connor and Jessie Buckley this intimately shot film version of the Shakespeare play makes for perfect viewing for an audience starved of both social contact and theatre.
If you’re in the mood for more of the Bard, and can’t wait until theatres reopen, here’s our pick of the best film adaptations.
A Midsummer’s Night Dream (2016), BritBox
With a judicious trim of the text, the ever-wonderful Russell T Davies turns Shakespere’s classic comedy into the perfect prime time romp. Whether it’s the campy fascism of Theseus’s court or the sitcom larks of Quince’s am-dram players, everything seems so Shakespeare, yet so RTD, at the same time. While Maxine Peake excels as the vampish Titania, it’s Matt Lucas’s Bottom who really steals the show, with immaculate clowning that rivals anything seen in RSC history.
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