EMILY’S KISSATHON TO BRING ROMEO & JULIET TO THE SCREEN
AFTER honing her craft clowning around, Emily Redpath has made the leap to Shakespeare on screen. The 24-year-old actress stars opposite Olivier award-winning actor Sam Tutty in a new version of Romeo And Juliet filmed under tight Covid safety measures, which meant she and Tutty had one day to do all their love scenes.
Directed by Nick Evans, the film (as first reported in this column), was shot with green screen technology. Theatrical knight Derek Jacobi has just completed filming his scenes as
The Narrator, which tech wizard and producer Ryan Metcalfe will edit into the picture, which is streaming in Valentine’s week
'We had plastic screens in front of us for rehearsals,’ said Emily, who was raised in London and Somerset. ‘But then we got tested and isolated from the others, because you can't have Romeo and Juliet without touching, without a kiss.’
She agreed with a comment Tutty made to me about the kiss feeling illicit, because it took place when we were being bombarded with warnings about keeping your distance. Redpath studied theatre and performance at Queen Mary University in East London and was a keen member of its theatre company.
She explored the art of clowning and the methods of Commedia dell’Arte — taking a show to the Edinburgh Fringe, where part of the act included serenading the audience while sitting on their laps. Another gig was a cereal affair called Po*n Flakes. ‘Clowning gives you the freedom to mess up,’ she laughed, ‘and realise it’s OK. It definitely gave me confidence.’ She’d avoided Shakespeare at school, so hadn’t read Romeo And Juliet until she was working on her audition tape.
‘When I was younger, I wanted to do Medea,’ she told me. But she took to Shakespeare once she dug deep into Juliet. ‘She’s a bold, impassioned character — though also a bit of a stroppy teenager,’ she said. ‘That’s why she finds Romeo so exciting. He’s wrong, but he’s right.’
Working with Tutty was fun, too; particularly when they were actually together in the same frame. ‘We looked at each other close up and he was like: “Oh, you’ve got brown eyes!”’ Redpath had seen Dear Evan Hansen, the musical in which Tutty plays the title character, before the pandemic, and long before they knew each other. ‘Sam’s understudy was on, and I didn’t see him. But I’d love to go back when he’s playing again. After all, he’s been my Romeo.’
Romeo And Juliet will be streamed on www.romeojuliet2021.com from February 13-20. Tickets available from 10am today at www. romeojuliet2021.com/tickets; with a portion of sales going to Acting For others.