Testament of Youth
Vogue US|September 2024
In a new production of Romeo and Juliet, Jack Antonoff, Rachel Zegler, Kit Connor, and Sam Gold transform a classic into a timely, urgent work.
Liam Hess
Testament of Youth

It ’s a Sunday morning in springtime London, and Rachel Zegler and Kit Connor are standing on a park bench in Primrose Hill. They raise their hands to their mouths in unison, and as the photographer calls, One, two, three, they scream into the void. Over the next few hours, not even the whipping winds of a blustery, overcast afternoon can deter them from giving the camera their all.

Eventually, though, a different kind of reality sets in: It’s 55 degrees, and once Zegler’s pink satin skirt has been fluffed for the final time, she’s bundled into a puffer jacket with a hot water bottle and sent to her trailer. That’s where I find them— Zegler with a silk scarf covering her hair, Connor ’s cheeks turned ruddy by the weather—leaning on a sofa, teasing each other.

“Are you memorized?” Zegler asks.

“I’m pretty much off-book,” Connor replies with a grin, and the pair high-five.

“Are you nervous, though?”

“Oh, yeah,” Connor says.

“I’m bloody nervous.” In September, Connor and Zegler will be making their Broadway debuts in a bold new Circle in the Square production of Romeo and Juliet by director Sam Gold (its tagline? “The youth are f**ked”). Today, they’re preparing for a read-through with Gold to be conducted over video link from Zegler’s hotel. (Both are in London for work: Connor filming Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza’s Warfare; Zegler doing reshoots for her starring role in Disney’s live-action Snow White, with Gal Gadot.)

As soon as the photo shoot is over, they’re in a black cab to Piccadilly. And when we meet at the hotel, both have changed: Zegler is in a black sweater, Connor in jeans and a white T-shirt, the sleeves of which he intermittently tugs down over his biceps. Before I ask them much about anything, Zegler poses a question to Connor with a sly smile: “Imagine if we didn’t get along?”

This story is from the September 2024 edition of Vogue US.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the September 2024 edition of Vogue US.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM VOGUE USView All
The First Wild Garden - A new book celebrates the historic English garden that launched a modern movement.
Vogue US

The First Wild Garden - A new book celebrates the historic English garden that launched a modern movement.

Without naming the most grotesque examples of tree mutilation in England, it is clear that much beauty is lost in our gardens by the stupid and ignorant practice of cutting trees into unnatural shapes,” wrote the Victorian-era gardener William Robinson in Gravetye Manor: Or Twenty Years’ Work round an Old Manor House (1911). Robinson’s fighting words were laid out in the preface to his book, an account of the decades he spent creating his garden at the Elizabethan house of Gravetye Manor in Sussex, England, and recently reproduced in facsimile by Rizzoli alongside stunning contemporary photographs.

time-read
3 mins  |
September 2024
Clean Sweep- Two seasons into her tenure at Carven, Louise Trotter is reimagining the label with pieces at once mindful, freeand beautiful.
Vogue US

Clean Sweep- Two seasons into her tenure at Carven, Louise Trotter is reimagining the label with pieces at once mindful, freeand beautiful.

Two seasons into her tenure at Carven, Louise Trotter is reimagining the label with pieces at once mindful, freeand beautiful. In February of last year, Trotter took up the role of creative director at the 79-year-old maison, reawakening it from a five-year slumber, and a chauffeur—customary for an artistic director at the helm of a Parisian fashion house—simply doesn’t fly with her bluff Sunderland upbringing.

time-read
6 mins  |
August 2024
Testament of Youth
Vogue US

Testament of Youth

In a new production of Romeo and Juliet, Jack Antonoff, Rachel Zegler, Kit Connor, and Sam Gold transform a classic into a timely, urgent work.

time-read
7 mins  |
September 2024
GLOWING UP FAST
Vogue US

GLOWING UP FAST

I’m slick as an otter. I’m greased up like a Thanksgiving turkey

time-read
6 mins  |
September 2024
TIME'S ARROW
Vogue US

TIME'S ARROW

A celebrated Broadway-bound play by Jez Butterworth, The Hills of California, captures the youthful ambitions and dashed dreams of a quartet of English sisters.

time-read
9 mins  |
September 2024
The Shape of Things
Vogue US

The Shape of Things

Annabelle Selldorf has built a soaring career on gentle interventions, subtle forms—a design language of elegance and restraint. Dodie Kazanjian meets the architect of our moment.

time-read
10 mins  |
September 2024
SWING SHIFT
Vogue US

SWING SHIFT

With the election of their lifetimes looming on the horizon, eight models— each of them with ties to a battleground state—tell us what’s important to them, what they’re fighting for, where they’re voting, and how they’re finding value and purpose in uneasy times.

time-read
7 mins  |
September 2024
Walk This Spray
Vogue US

Walk This Spray

Scented runways are the latest merger of perfume and fashion

time-read
3 mins  |
September 2024
Hidden Gems
Vogue US

Hidden Gems

With its timeworn cities and sweeping seascapes, the Southern Italian region of Basilicata is rich with splendors.

time-read
2 mins  |
September 2024
Mixed Company
Vogue US

Mixed Company

An artist alliance between chef Daniel Humm and painter Francesco Clemente blossoms in a new bar

time-read
3 mins  |
September 2024