Before Rosaline, my knowledge of Shakespeare was not great.

Kaitlyn Dever admitted her knowledge of Shakespeare was “not very good” before she starred in the upcoming film based on Romeo and Juliet, but said she learned a lot while studying at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. ).

The American actress, best known for her role in the coming-of-age comedy Bookshop, said the experience was “very scary” but she had learned to embrace the Bard’s work in her own way.

Dever stars in the Disney film Rosaline, which tells the story of Romeo’s ex and her attempts to win back her lover from the affections of her younger cousin Juliet.

The character of Rosaline appears only briefly in Romeo and Juliet, becoming the plot device that allows the doomed lovers to meet at a masquerade ball.

Speaking to the PA news agency at the film’s world premiere in Los Angeles, Dever said: “Before (the film), my knowledge of Shakespeare wasn’t very good.

“I went to Rada when I was 18, I did a Shakespeare course there and I literally took the course to experience something new – I didn’t know anything about Shakespeare.

“And I discovered that every kid in my class knew so much about Shakespeare, and I was immediately intimidated the first lesson.

“It was so scary (but) I ended up learning a lot, and then I was assigned to read Romeo and Juliet in high school, so I was probably familiar.”

She continued: “When I went to the Rada, I found out that I was writing Shakespeare the way I thought you were supposed to do.

“I was so worried and worried about it and on my very last day I was doing a performance and I just decided to leave it at that and do it the way I would do it.”

Dever added that Rosaline is a “very empowering female story” about self-discovery.

She stars alongside Isabella Merced, who plays Juliet, Kyle Allen as Romeo, Sean Teale as Dario and Christopher McDonald, who told PA he was also present at Rada.

Director Karen Main agreed that the film is “definitely empowering” and that many of the film’s feminist themes are “unfortunately” still relevant today.

“This is a story we haven’t seen before, although it exists in a very familiar Shakespearean narrative and has been read a million times and seen in different interpretations,” she told PA.

“We never saw it from Rosaline’s point of view, the tertiary character… what she thought about everything and what role she played in the whole story.

“It has a lot of feminist themes… Unfortunately, a lot of things are still relevant today. It’s definitely empowering.”

Rosalina will air in the UK on Disney+ under the Star banner on October 14th.