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With Romeo & Juliet currently being on the GCSE curriculum, is there really a better time to grab some tickets and let the kids experience first-hand the magic of one of the greatest romantic tragedies of all time?
‘What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet’: or so The Bard would have it. The Everyman Company’s final production in its inaugural Rep season – Romeo and Juliet – is now running at the Hope Street theatre, with more than a few surprises in store.
The company has joined forces with the award-winning Young Everyman Playhouse (YEP) to present this telling of one of the Bard’s best-loved plays. Set in a world of gangs, director Nick Bagnall’s production reimagines Shakespeare’s classic love tale for 21st Century audiences, exploring sexuality with some of the characters having their gender swapped, including Juliet who has become Julius.
This contemporary view of the play is an edited, fast-paced production where there is bloodshed on the streets and family rivalries and arranged marriages are commonplace. The ‘swords’ of the original have been replaced with the ‘knives’ of today.
George Caple (Romeo) and Elliott Kingsley (Julius) play the star-crossed lovers. Caple graduated from RADA in 2016 and has appeared in Who Cares (Lowry) and Epic Love and Pop Songs (Pleasance) prior to the Everyman Rep Season. Kingsley came through the theatre’s YEP auditions to take up a training place in the Company funded by Everyman alumni, and his roles in the Rep Season mark his professional stage debut.
Harnessing YEP’s explosive youth to energise Shakespeare’s exploration of young love and transgression, the production features two YEP members, Isobel Balchin (Benvolio) and Alice Corrigan (Balthasar), along with a Women’s Chorus and a further 25 young people as the rival gangs. The thread of youthful promise in the production is continued backstage with LIPA Design Prize winner Molly Elizabeth Lacey Davies designing the set.
“It is a play that is constantly revisited and demands to be placed in modern times to allow it to reflect the lives of young people today,” Director Nick Bagnall said. “We are strongly committed to creating work with and for young people, so bringing the Rep Company together with YEP and Romeo & Juliet in such an exciting way is the perfect choice.”
The season has come full circle with the whole Company featuring in the final production. Richard Bremmer plays Friar Laurence, Patrick Brennan is the Prince, Tom Kanji plays Tybalt and Friar John, Asha Kingsley plays Lady Capulet, the Nurse is Melanie La Barrie, Dean Nolan appears as Mercutio, Zelina Rebeiro plays Countess Paris, and Lord and Lady Montague will be played by Liam Tobin and Keddy Sutton. Pauline Daniels, Laura Dos Santos and Emily Hughes join the chorus.
Dates: Runs until Wednesday 7 June
Venue: Liverpool Everyman, Hope Street, Liverpool, L1 9BH
Times: 7:30pm (except Mon 5 & Wed 7 June)
Matinée: 2pm on Sat 3 June
Twilight: 5:30pm on Mon 5 & Wed 7 June
Tickets: £10 – £30*
Box Office: 0151 709 4776
Online booking (24-hour): www.everymanplayhouse.com
*A single transaction fee of £2 applies to all phone, counter and internet bookings. Cash payments are exempt from any transaction fees.
www.everymanplayhouse.com/whats-on/romeo-juliet