William Shakespeare e la "Shakespeare Controversy"

The reason for our Zoom encounter isn’t technically to talk about his incredible turn in The Crown, but for his latest part, in a production of Romeo & Juliet with Jessie Buckley filmed in the backstage spaces of the otherwise-unused National Theatre just before lockdown at the end of last year. They almost didn’t finish it – the new lockdown rules were announced just as they were racing to a close. “But we managed to get it over the line and I’m so proud of it. To say we’ve made this film during a global pandemic is kind of remarkable.”

The result is rather remarkable – half film production, half stage show – and more than anything else gives the thrill of watching two of the best young actors working today playing opposite each other.

Still, says O’Connor, filming was rather unusual. All the cast would be tested twice a week for Covid and it was only after receiving the result that they would have a three-hour “intimacy window”, where he and Buckley were allowed to film close-up scenes together. “So Jessie and I would be waiting for our test results, find out we’re negative, then, ‘Great, we can do the balcony scene! We’re able to kiss!’”

As great as it was to be acting again, this approved “intimacy window” had some other benefits – namely, actual human contact. Joy!

“The funniest day was when we were going to do a fight scene. And all the lads were being very laddy, like, ‘Yeah, fighting today! We love fighting! Fighting fighting!’ And as soon as the negative tests arrived everyone started hugging and giving each other kisses. It was great! It was a gift.”

And as O’Connor points out, it actually mirrored the play itself. “That’s all they do. They spend the whole play snatching moments away from their parents. They don’t actually spend that much time together. They have, like, three scenes together. And in one of those, at any given moment one of them is dead.”

Still, he says, rehearsing was a challenge, as the other person wouldn’t be there. He had various stand-ins, he says, to replace Jessie as Juliet. “We had pillows. Let me tell you, it was hard going from one of the greatest actors of my generation [Buckley] to acting opposite a pillow.”