Comparing Zeffirelli and Luhrmann's Versions of Romeo and Juliet

"For never was a story of more woe

Than this of Juliet and her Romeo."

- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, 5.3

‘Romeo and Juliet’ is a tragic play about two star crossed lovers written by Shakespeare in 1595. The play is a timeless teenage tradgedy. “The play champions the 16th Century belief that true love always strikes at first sight,” (Lamb 1993: Introduction) and even in modern times an audience still want to believe in such a thing as love at first sight. Act II Scene II the balcony scene displays that romantic notion perfectly.

“The most filmed of all plays, ‘Romeo and Juliet’, with its universal themes… remains uniquely adaptable for any time period,” (Botnick, 2002). Directors Franco Zeffirelli (1968) and Baz Luhrman (1996) provide examples of the plays adaption to suit the teenage generation of their time. Identifying the key elements of each version: the directors intentions, time/place, pace, symbols, language and human context is one way to clearly show how each director clearly reaches their target audience. Overall however Luhrman’s adaptation would be more effective for capturing the teenage audience.

Zeffirelli’s ultimate goal for his version of Romeo and Juliet was to capture Shakespeare’s original intentions for the play while targeting the teenage audience of his generation. Luhrmann’s intentions were different however; he changed the way an audience looks at Shakespeare’s masterpiece by modernising the props, costumes, and sets. Obviously, to match film time quotas Zefirelli and Luhrmann has both cut many lines out of the play.

The different sets used by both directors are another way of showing how different each version is. Zefirelli set his version in Italy, and based it in the 16th centu...

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...f the play, is set what seems to be the Capulets’ backyard which unlike. Romeo and Juliet spend most of the scene in the pool, which symbolically may be referring to some of the missed lines about water and waves in Shakespeare’s original script. The Scene was more fast, or “Spoken in a breakneck pace (as was common in Shakespeares time, and as benefits passionate lovers who are terrified of getting caught.)” (Botnick 2002).

Like Zeffirelli, Luhrmann used many symbols to get across to the audience what his dialogue missed, and what he wanted to communicate to the audience about each character. For example Romeo’s costume may be the first thing the audience may notice; Romeo is wearing armour, symbolising him being the knight in shining armour. As for Juliet her costume is a white chast white gown from her earlier angel costume, signifying innocence and purity