Shakespeare Reimagined

The “Shakespeare Reimagined” series consists of three events, each including a film screening and a Q&A session with experts in both theater and film. We are thrilled to partner again with our friends at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard Street, Brookline, MA. 

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S ROMEO + JULIET 

Romeo + Juliet (1996)
Directed by Baz Luhrmann
Shown from left: Zak Orth, Leonardo DiCaprio, Dash Mihok, Harold Perrineau

 Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at 7 pm

In 1996, Baz Luhrmann helped adapt this classic Shakespearean romantic tragedy for the screen, updating the setting to a post-modern city named Verona Beach. In this version, the Capulets and the Montagues are two rival gangs. Juliet (Claire Danes) is attending a costume ball thrown by her parents. Her father Fulgencio Capulet (Paul Sorvino) has arranged her marriage to the boorish Paris (Paul Rudd) as part of a strategic investment plan. Romeo attends the masked ball and he and Juliet fall in love.

Post-screening discussion will be led by Bryn Boice, with guests multiple award-winning Scenic Designer James Noone, and DigBoston film critic Jake Mulligan. 

Admission is $16.25 general admission, $13.25 for Coolidge Corner Theater members. The price includes the film screening (123 minutes) and the panel discussion (which will run approximately 30-40 minutes). 

PAST SCREENINGS:

THRONE OF BLOOD

Throne of Blood (1957 Japan) aka Kumonosu Jo
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Shown: Isuzu Yamada

 Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 7 pm

 A vivid, visceral Macbeth adaptation, Throne of Blood, directed by Akira Kurosawa, sets   Shakespeare’s definitive tale of ambition and duplicity in a ghostly, fog-enshrouded   landscape in feudal Japan. As a hardened warrior who rises savagely to power, Toshiro   Mifune gives a remarkable, animalistic performance, as does Isuzu Yamada as his ruthless   wife. Throne of Blood fuses classical Western tragedy with formal elements taken from   Noh theater to create an unforgettable cinematic experience.

35mm screening

Join us for a post-screening discussion moderated by local multi-hyphenate theater artist, Regine Vital, with panelists Peter Grilli, President Emeritus of The Japan Society of Boston and a well-known specialist on Japanese history and culture, and local favorite, actor Nael Nacer (Caliban in CSC’s The Tempest, Macbeth in Macbeth at ASP, among others).

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE

Shakespeare in Love (1998)
Directed by John Madden
Shown from left: Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes

 Monday, February 13, 2023 at 7 pm

 25th-anniversary screening! Featuring an Oscar-winning script co-written by Tom Stoppard, Shakespeare in Love follows the adventures of Young Will Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes), an up-and-coming playwright who has been disastrously struck by the bane of the writer’s life – writer’s block. His comedy “Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate’s Daughter” isn’t going anywhere and the playhouse is under threat of closure. What Will needs is a muse, and she appears in the form of the beautiful and betrothed Lady Viola (Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow). The course of true love does not run smooth for Will, but the joys and tragedy of his own life find their way onto the page in a moving, witty and spellbinding tale.

Panelists for the post-screening discussion will include Boston Globe film critic Odie Henderson and beloved local actress Marianna Bassham, and will be moderated by theatre artist Regine Vital.

The Coolidge’s film and video exhibition areas are accessible by elevators. All are also equipped with a variety of options for patrons that are hard of hearing, deaf, blind, and/or visually impaired. For questions about accessibility or to make any disability-related accommodation requests, please email info@coolidge.org.