''Private Romeo'' is an adaptation of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's '' Romeo and Juliet'' by Alan Brown made in 2011. The film is a reenactment of the play exclusively spoken in an all-male high school

military academy A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally provides education in a military environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned. ...

called McKinley Military Academy. Amidst this recitation is a love blossoming between the two cadets, Sam Singleton /

Romeo Romeo Montague () is the male protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Romeo and Juliet''. The son of Lord Montague and his wife, Lady Montague, he secretly loves and marries Juliet, a member of the rival House of Capulet, through a priest ...

played by

Seth Numrich Seth Numrich ( ; born January 19, 1987) is an American stage, television, and film actor. Early life Numrich was born in Minneapolis. He studied at The Juilliard School graduating in acting in 2006 with Group 36 in acting. He was a teaching ar ...

and Glenn Mangan / Juliet played by Matt Doyle. The film was Brown's take on

Don't ask, don't tell "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) was the official United States policy on military service of non-heterosexual people, instituted during the Clinton administration. The policy was issued under Department of Defense Directive 1304.26 on Decemb ...

, the official United States policy on gays in the military from December 21, 1993, to September 20, 2011 (the law was repealed after the production of the film). The scenes of the cadet school and the lessons of the play ''Romeo and Juliet'' are filmed in desaturated colors, gray, khaki, and pale, whereas the scenes depicting the actual Shakespearean scenes are shown in saturated colors. The film project was previously known as "McKinley" and as "The Shakespeare Project". Brown was inspired to write the script after seeing Joe Calarco's play ''Shakespeare's R&J'' in 2008 wherein four senior students in blazers, discover Shakespeare's ''Romeo and Juliet'' and become intrigued by it while reciting excerpts, and act out key scenes from the play intermingled with their own personal realities. All four play various roles in a

minimalist In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post– World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Do ...

stage setting.

Cast

The cast was made up of 8 actors playing 11 characters. Many other characters from the original play were left out. *

as Sam Singleton (

) * Matt Doyle as Glenn Mangan ( Juliet) * Hale Appleman as Josh Neff (double role

Mercutio Mercutio ( , ) is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's 1597 tragedy, ''Romeo and Juliet''. He is a close friend to Romeo and a blood relative to Prince Escalus and Count Paris. As such, Mercutio is one of the named characters in the ...

and

Lord Capulet William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo and Juliet'' contains a relatively distinctive cast of characters. In addition to the play's eponymous protagonists, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, the play, which is set in Verona, Italy, contains roles fo ...

) * Charlie Barnett as Ken Lee (

Prince Escalus William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo and Juliet'' contains a relatively distinctive cast of characters. In addition to the play's eponymous protagonists, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, the play, which is set in Verona, Italy, contains roles fo ...

) *Adam Barrie as Adam Hersh (

Friar Laurence Friar Laurence or Friar Lawrence is a character in William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo and Juliet''. Role in the play Friar Laurence is a friar who plays the part of a wise adviser to Romeo and Juliet, along with aiding in major plot developments ...

) *Chris Bresky as Omar Madsen (

Nurse Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health c ...

) *Sean Hudock as Gus Sanchez (double role Capulet's Wife and

Benvolio Benvolio is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Romeo and Juliet''. He is Lord Montague's nephew and Romeo's cousin. Benvolio serves as an unsuccessful peacemaker in the play, attempting to prevent violence between the Capule ...

) *Bobby Moreno as Carlos Moreno (double role of Capulet and

Tybalt Tybalt () is a character in William Shakespeare's play '' Romeo and Juliet''. He is the son of Lady Capulet's brother, Juliet's short-tempered first cousin, and Romeo's rival. Tybalt shares the same name as the character Tibert / Tybalt ''"th ...

)

Reception

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, 55% of 11 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.0/10.

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which uses a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

, assigned the film a score of 53 out of 100 based on 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Rex Reed Rex Taylor Reed (born October 2, 1938) is an American film critic, occasional actor, and television host. He writes the column "On the Town with Rex Reed" for '' The New York Observer''. Early life Reed was born on October 2, 1938, in Fort Wo ...

, writing for the ''

Observer An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment. Observer may also refer to: Computer science and information theory * In information theory, any system which receives information from an object * State observer in co ...

'', described it as "hugely adventurous and highly liberated". It was a New York Times Critics Pick.

Awards

In 2011, the film won the Grand Jury Prize at

Outfest Outfest is an LGBTQ-oriented nonprofit that produces two film festivals, operates a movie streaming platform, and runs educational services for filmmakers in Los Angeles. Outfest is one of the key partners, alongside the Frameline Film Festival ...

, the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, for "Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film." The prize was co-won by Seth Numrich, Chris Bresky, Matt Doyle, Hale Appleman, Sean Hudock, Adam Barrie, Bobby Moreno, and Charlie Barnett. The award credited the actors for "bringing fresh life to a timeless love story and infusing each moment with a 21st century immediacy that balances naked passion with longing and delivering it all with brilliant coherence".

References

External links

* {{Romeo and Juliet film adaptations 2011 films Films based on Romeo and Juliet American LGBT-related films American drama films 2011 LGBT-related films LGBT-related drama films Modern adaptations of works by William Shakespeare LGBT-related adaptations of works by William Shakespeare Gay-related films Don't ask, don't tell 2010s English-language films Films directed by Alan Brown 2010s American films