Sadie Sink and Noah Jupe Embrace West End Debut in Romeo and Juliet
Noah Jupe and Sadie Sink are delving into their professional backgrounds with a playful comparison. "Noah has more Shakespeare experience than me, for sure," Sink remarks. Jupe, with a hint of modesty, confirms, "Oh yes, I think so." When probed about his line count, he admits, "Quite a few, actually. More than 10!"
From Screen to Stage: A Surprising Turn to Shakespeare
Jupe could boast of playing Hamlet at just 19 in Chloé Zhao's Oscar-nominated adaptation Hamnet, yet he confesses Shakespeare initially held little appeal. "Sadly, until now, Shakespeare wasn't really something I was interested in," he says, recalling dull school lessons that failed to ignite passion. "It was taught in this way that was so boring and intellectual that it just went in one ear and out the other."
Now, however, he finds himself in rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet alongside acclaimed director Robert Icke. Sink, 23, famed for her role as Max Mayfield in Stranger Things, shares similar surprise. "I never saw myself doing Shakespeare," she begins, then corrects herself, "never, certainly, as early as this." A meeting with Icke changed her mind, sparking a gut feeling to seize the role of Juliet immediately.
Robert Icke's Vision and Unfinished Business
Icke recalls persuading Sink, noting Juliet is a part best played young. "One of the things that you could do now that will escape you in five years is Juliet," he told her. "It's an amazing part, and so few people get to play it." His 2012 production, praised for capturing teenage love's intensity, felt incomplete. "It just wasn't finished," Icke reflects. "With Shakespeare you probably always get a certain distance and then just as you complete it you can see the bit that you didn't get to."
Encountering Sink and Jupe—known for films like A Quiet Place and Honey Boy—signaled the perfect opportunity. After five weeks of rehearsal, Sink observes their growth. "It's been cool thinking back to the chemistry read that we did. We've obviously grown so much since then."
Stage Debuts and Theatrical Passions
For Jupe, this marks his stage debut, and he expresses boyish enthusiasm. "In films we never get to speak that much," he admits. "This is marrying your voice and the words to your heart and that's something I've not really had experience of. But when you get it, when the two connect, it feels as if you're flying."
Sink, a self-described theatre nerd who played Annie on Broadway at 10, finds fewer terrors in a West End debut. Starting Stranger Things at 14, she acknowledges the show shaped her teenage identity. "Yeah, you can't stop it, and there's no reason to really," she says. "It is always going to be a huge part of my life and I'm so grateful for my time on that show—I think it really protected me in a lot of ways."
Bonding Over Child Stardom and Evolving Perspectives
Though Sink and Jupe had never met before casting, they bond over shared experiences as child actors. Sink's family relocated for her career, while Jupe's parents, both in the industry, guided him—his younger brother Jacobi even starred in Hamnet. "It's tough to go through that world and still come out of it loving being an actor," Jupe notes. "So it's very rare when you get to work with someone around your age in a similar position."
Sink agrees, reflecting on a shift in her late teens. "When I was about 18 my mentality shifted a bit. I am still passionate about acting, but I also think it means something different than what I thought it meant. So anything before that just feels like a separate chapter." She marked this transition with a return to stage in John Proctor Is the Villain, now set for London's Royal Court theatre.
Exploring Love and Modern Dating Through Shakespeare
Playing Juliet raised questions for Sink about age and relevance. "She's written as really, really young, and I did wonder, does that feel too distant? Like, have I kind of grown up too much?" Her maturity contrasts with Jupe's discussions on love and gen Z dating. "We live in a world of dating apps and social media where even if you find this girl pretty, there's someone across the world in Brazil that's, like, way better," he says. "It's really nice to explore a relationship like the one in Romeo and Juliet and give yourself hope that such a thing exists in the world."
Sink responds with scepticism, "I mean, they both die in the end." Jupe counters, "Yeah, but acting on that spark when you feel it, I just don't think we do that nowadays. And even if you think you've found what you're looking for, you immediately doubt yourself."
Icke's Fresh Take and Casting Coup
Icke emphasises the play's reliance on chance, unlike other Shakespearean tragedies. "So many people want it to be a play about Montagues v Capulets," he says, "and actually, it isn't. Because if Romeo were to turn up at the tomb five minutes later, he'd find Juliet awake and they'd be fine." He points out, "In all of the other tragedies, the bad thing is already happening before the play starts and hangs over it like a cloud—Hamlet's dad is dead, King Lear's mind is wobbling. This one is different. It could so easily be a comedy."
Casting young screen stars like Jupe and Sink, both with rising profiles—Jupe in upcoming films with Hugh Jackman and Benedict Cumberbatch, Sink in secret Marvel roles—aims to attract new audiences. Icke, now a parent, notes personal growth since his 2012 production. "I was 25 when we did it last time," he says, "and this time I'm a parent, so I'm more sympathetic than I was to what it's like to be a parent in this play." He also learns from his cast, joking about picking up slang like "hard."
"It is, admits Icke, 'a different universe' to the one when he was 20. 'But a young audience who come to see these guys—and maybe don't know theatre—will be completely astonished and blown away if we get it right.'" Romeo and Juliet runs at the Harold Pinter theatre, London, from 18 March to 20 June.
