Shakespeare in Love stage play planned

A stage version of the popular film Shakespeare in Love, the Oscar-winning romance starring Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow, is in the works.

Celebrated playwright Tom Stoppard, who co-wrote the  the film, is in talks to adapt his script into a stage play to debut in London.

He is to team up with Tony Award-winner Jack O'Brien in the director's chair. O'Brien's credits include Hairspray, The Full Monty and Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia and The Invention of Love.

Originally envisioned as a musical, the Shakespeare in Love play is a partnership between Disney, which holds the rights to the project, and theatre mogul Sonia Friedman, who produced Stoppard's Rock 'n' Roll for Broadway and the West End.

Released in movie theatres in 1998, Shakespeare in Love tells a fictionalized tale of the Bard (Fiennes) as a poor, young playwright who falls in love with a wealthy merchant's daughter (Paltrow) disguising herself as a boy to perform in one of his plays.

It earned a host of awards, including Oscars for best picture, best actress for Paltrow and best supporting actress for Judi Dench's brief but acclaimed performance as Queen Elizabeth I.