Kimberley Sykes directed Shakespeare’s timeless story of two young people torn apart by a divided society and forbidden love.
Supported by Arts Council England and DCMS through the Culture Recovery Fund.
Running time: 110minutes. This production ran without an interval.
Read reviews
Show all reviewsWhatsOnStage
“Kimberley Sykes’s SIZZLING new production…a version that gets to the bruised heart of Shakespeare’s text with a refreshing urgency and vitality. THRILLING”
Time Out
“BREATHLESS and JOYFUL…this irresistibly giddy Romeo & Juliet surges with young lust”
Daily Telegraph
“Joel MacCormack and Isabel Adomakoh Young play our modern star-crossed lovers, big-booted and with bags of attitude. And take a bow Cavan Clarke, compellingly freewheeling as Mercutio.”
The Stage
“Performed with youthful energy, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre aims straight at the heart. The vision is an arresting one and it’s a huge pleasure to see an ensemble, particularly one with a commitment to gender balance, at work again.”
Daily Mail
“An exceptional young talent has arrived in the shape of Isabel Adomakoh Young as Juliet. She has the spellbinding ability to switch between conflicting thoughts and maintain a strong sense of purpose and passion in her character. A Juliet to remember.”
The Times
“Joel MacCormack’s Romeo delivers the verse with graceful authority, while Aretha Ayeh’s Benvolia wins our sympathy as she tries to calm the factions.”
TheatreVibe
“The Capulets’ masked ball is a socially distanced, visual masterpiece. Bravo to the Open Air for bringing theatre back with elegant and meaningful style.”
Afridiziak
"AN EXPERIENCE LIKE NO OTHER - definitely something you should see. The blind casting helps push the Shakespearean classic into to a new era. There is something significant in seeing yourself and your friends represented on stage.”
The Guardian
“Cavan Clarke’s Mercutio steals the spotlight in an entertaining production that foregrounds past trauma.”
The Upcoming
“Accessible, fast-paced and A MASTERPIECE in its own rite.”
WhatsOnStage
“The ferocity of the pace, plus the clarity of the storytelling, pleasingly inventive touches and unexpected gender-flipping of some principal characters, means this feels bracingly modern”
Daily Mail
“Both Peter Hamilton Dyer as the Friar and Emma Cunniffe as the Nurse demonstrate how to make the Bard sing with simple, direct performances.”
IndyArts
“YOU'RE IN FOR A TREAT…expect rave music, sword fights and Doc Martens.”
Creative Team
- Ciaran Bagnall – Lighting Designer
- Christian Bravo – Sound Associate
- Stuart Burt CDG – Casting Director
- Naomi Dawson – Designer
- Catja Hamilton – Lighting Associate
- Barbara Houseman – Season Associate Director/Voice & Text Director
- Fiona Kennedy – Voice Associate
- Ingrid Mackinnon – Movement Director
- Kev McCurdy – Fight Director
- Darcel Osei – Movement Associate
- Jon Pashley – Associate Director
- Annelie Powell CDG – Casting Director
- Kimberley Sykes – Director
- Giles Thomas – Composer & Sound Designer
- Nic Wass – Dramaturg
Cast
- Isabel Adomakoh Young – Juliet
- Aretha Ayeh – Benvolia
- Ellie Beaven – Lady Capulet
- Cavan Clarke – Mercutio
- Tom Claxton – Peter
- Emma Cunniffe – Nurse
- Peter Hamilton Dyer – Friar Lawrence
- Ryan Ellsworth – Lord Montague
- Michelle Fox – Tybalt
- Andrew French – Lord Capulet
- Sarah Hoare – Gregora/Apothacary
- Irvine Iqbal – Prince Escalus
- Richard Leeming – Paris
- Joel MacCormack – Romeo
- Priyank Morjaria – Sampson
- Louise Mai Newberry – Lady Montague
- Shadee Yaghoubi – Abra
- Marc Zayat – Balthasar