“It was the nightingale and not the lark.” This sentence, perhaps the most famous line in perhaps the most famous love story ever written, also found its way into Charles Gounod’s opera about Romeo and Juliet which first enthralled an audience at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1867.

In the 19th century, all of France was in the grip of a veritable Shakespeare craze, and it was only a matter of time before the successful team of Gounod and Barbier & Carré turned their attention to one of the Bard’s dramas. The result was without doubt the most passionate adaptation of the tale with no fewer than four big love duets – no mean feat considering how many times the piece has been adapted, especially for the big screen, with visuals that range from the romantic to the hypermodern. And the work of director Marie-Eve Signeyrole also shows cinematic influences: right from the start, her career has often found her behind the camera. Consequently, she adds live video clips to her opera productions, presenting intense emotions with no need for grand gestures.