O me! This sight of death is as a bell, That warns my old age to a sepulchre. (Lady Capulet)
Requiem for Juliet is Riccardo Buscarini’s take on William Shakespeare’s 1597 play, Romeo and Juliet. Commissioned for ŻfinMalta, it is the story of a mother coming to terms with the loss of her daughter. Who is Lady Capulet, and how was she in the aftermath of those tragic events? This work reflects on the power of individual choice and its consequences. Lady Capulet, who is represented on stage throughout by the actress Charlotte Grech, lays bare the scattered memories she has kept hidden for years, all in a letter to Juliet. As she writes, she questions the life choices taken by her daughter and herself.
Love and grief, gender roles, religion, and power, are central themes in the play and in this adaptation. Buscarini’s choreography is intertwined with voice-over text written for the work and inspired by the original play.
Supported by the Italian Cultural Institute of Valletta.
``Everything combines into a creation of triumphant beauty, thrilling and visceral and devastating. We tend to emerge from ŻfinMalta productions deeply connected with the unspoken parts of ourselves.``
Lara Zammit, Requiem for Juliet, Times of Malta, 5 June 2022
