Footwork Films invites you to experience a brand-new reimagining of the best-known love story of all time. Set to a unique recording of Sergei Prokofiev's original score, International Emmy award-winning Michael Nunn and William Trevitt restage and direct Sir Kenneth MacMillan's remarkable choreography in an audacious first in contemporary filmmaking.
The cinematic costume drama features the current generation of stars of The Royal Ballet, internationally known as the strongest actor-dancers in the world, starring William Bracewell as Romeo and Francesca Hayward as Juliet in their feature film debuts.
This is the extraordinary story that everyone knows, presented like never before – a unique work of art.
As members of the feuding Capulet and Montague families, Romeo and Juliet should be sworn enemies, but they fall deeply in love and marry in secret. That very day, disastrous circumstances lead Romeo to fight and kill Juliet's cousin Tybalt, setting off a chain of events that culminate in tragedy. Juliet takes a potion to avoid the love-match her parents have set up for her, and Romeo, believing she is dead, poisons himself. When she wakes from her deep sleep, Juliet finds the body of her love, and is so distraught that she stabs herself, joining him in death.
The score for Romeo and Juliet: Beyond Words is a 90-minute cut of Sergei Prokofiev's original score from 1938, completely unique to the film. It was recorded at AIR Studios in Hampstead, London, with the Orchestra of The Royal Opera House. The 85 players were conducted by the renowned Royal Opera House Music Director Koen Kessels, and the Concert Master was Vasko Vassilev.