Perspex screens, CGI scenery and Covid tests before kissing … Sam Tutty and Emily Redpath reveal how they filmed a new Romeo and Juliet
As the isolated teen in the hit musical Dear Evan Hansen, Sam Tutty is used to “tap-tap-tapping on the glass”, as he sang in Waving Through a Window. But Covid-19 safety measures for the Olivier award-winning actor’s new production, a modern-day version of Romeo and Juliet, made that literally the case.
Tutty and Emily Redpath play the star-crossed lovers in the filmed theatre production, directed by Nick Evans, which is set in the aftermath of a pandemic. Coronavirus is never mentioned in the production but the masked ball scene features the sort of modern-day face coverings we have grown used to. Throughout rehearsals in London in November the actors had regular temperature checks and stayed socially distanced, often kept on separate sides of a screen.
