Romeo and Juliet

by William Shakespeare

Few love stories have endured like this one - the very image of passionate, all-consuming romance: "The most excellent and lamentable tragedy of Romeo and Juliet".

The children of two feuding families in medieval Verona, in an age of plague and political marriages, fall for each other in an instant. They marry in secret, are torn apart by their families' conflict, and meet a tragic end. Their love burns hot but brief - they share just one night together. What might have become of them with more time? A whole lifetime, even? Would their love have survived - and if so, what would it have looked like?

Director Anaïs Durand-Mauptit frames this 500-year-old story with a reflection on love today. How do we love now, and what obstacles do we face? How varied are the relationship models, ideas of love, and partnership arrangements of our time - and do we still long for that sweeping romantic feeling that wants to conquer even death?