RSC ANNOUNCES NATIONAL TOUR OF ROMEO AND JULIET

Watch the First Encounters: Romeo and Juliet trailer here

Download images here

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) will perform an adrenaline-charged, 90-minute adaptation of Romeo and Juliet in school halls and theatres around the country this year. The 12-week tour across the English regions will perform in more areas this year thanks to a touring grant from Arts Council England.*

The RSC First Encounters with Shakespeare productions are aimed at new and younger audiences. Romeo and Juliet is directed by Trybe House Theatre Artistic Director, Philip J Morris using an abridged version of the script edited by Dramaturg, Robin Belfield.

Opening in Leamington on Tuesday 30 January First Encounters: Romeo and Juliet will travel to Northampton, Corby, Norwich, Cornwall, Bradford, Newcastle upon Tyne, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Birmingham, Stratford-upon-Avon, Hull, Nottingham, Stoke-on-Trent and Skegness, during the week of Shakespeare’s Birthday celebrations, before culminating in Peterborough on the 26 April 2024.

The cast includes a number of actors making their RSC debuts, including Campbell Wallace and Zensi Alleyne who take on the title roles of Romeo and Juliet respectively. Campbell’s theatre credits include Lord of the Flies (Empire Theatre) and Macbeth (Richard Burton Theatre). As a recent drama school graduate, Zensi’s credits include filmed short Girls will be Girls directed by Isabel Steuble-John. Chloe Fenwick-Brown performs for the RSC for the first time as Benvolio and Dinarte Gouveia takes on the dual roles of Tybalt and Paris. Chloe, who also recently graduated from drama school, appeared in King Lear (West End) and Dinarte’s TV and theatre credits include Doctors (BBC) and Black Swans (Edinburgh Fridge).

Also joining the RSC for the first time, Qasim Mahmood will play both Mercutio and the Prince with Thomas Vernal as Lord Capulet and Friar John. Qasim’s previous theatre credits include Tartuffe (Birmingham Rep) and One Man, Two Guvnors (Liverpool Everyman / Bolton Octagon / Theatre By The Lake). Thomas’s credits include The Book of Mormon (UK & International Tour) and The Wizard of Oz (The Birmingham Rep). Returning to the RSC is Caitlin Drake in the roles of the Nurse and Lady Capulet, whose previous RSC credits include Boundless as the Sea and Miss Littlewood in partnership with Cunard. And taking on the role of Friar Laurence, Orlando Wells returns to the RSC for the fourth time (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello and Antony and Cleopatra). His other theatre credits include The History Boys (National Theatre) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Sheffield Crucible) with film credits including The King’s Speech, Midsummer Madness and Wilde.

At each venue, young people from RSC Associate Schools will also have a number of opportunities to get involved. In a reworking of the Prince of Verona’s role, at each venue ten young people will perform as members of the Prince’s counsel alongside the professional RSC actors. Together, the Prince and his counsel, will attempt to restore the peace whilst representing what might happen if young people were also the decision makers. Others will be invited to attend a two-day workshop in Stratford-upon-Avon shadowing RSC technical and production teams as part of the RSC’s Next Generation Backstage talent development initiative. Working alongside and supporting the RSC technical and creative teams, they will then get to put those news skills into practice when the tour arrives at their school or local theatre.

Introducing a new Verona with a nod to old Italy, the modern-day costume and shape-shifting scenery will provide a dynamic, contemporary backdrop for the action. After a chance meeting at a gate-crashed party brings Romeo and Juliet together, the world around them melts away. Then, as they come to realise that a long-standing feud between their two families means they will never be allowed to stay together, they hatch a plan to escape the lives they were born to with tragic consequences. Exploring the pressures of time, conformity and the intensity of adolescence, Morris’s production examines themes of innocence, indoctrination and ignorance.

Following the success of last year’s sell-out First Encounters tour of Twelfth Night, First Encounters: Romeo & Juliet brings Shakespeare’s star cross’d lovers up to date for a new generation of theatregoers.

Commenting on the production, Director, Philip J Morris, said: “As relevant today as it was 400 years ago, the play’s enduring appeal lies in its subject matter; from the intoxication of first love to the tension between misguided allegiances and rebellion. The impulse of youth and pressure to choose sides leads to a loss of life that is a familiar narrative today with youth violence on the rise and record numbers of young people seeking support for their mental health. These are some of the most challenging but persistent issues of our time and we hope that our production can help shine a light on the need to engage in difficult but urgent conversations.”

The show’s creative team includes Philip J Morris (Director), Ebrahim Nazier (Designer), Benjamin Kwasi Burrell (Music), Martin Poile (Casting Director) and Robin Belfield (Dramaturg).

Full ticketing information will be updated via the RSC’s website www.rsc.org.uk.

For further information contact: Jo Hammond at jo.hammond@rsc.org.uk

* The Arts Council England touring grant means that the RSC is able to expand its tour to work in partnership with more places. For First Encounters: Romeo and Juliet, we have expanded the tour to Skegness, Hartlepool, Peterborough, Corby where the RSC has new Associate School partnership clusters.

Tour Schedule

About RSC Learning and our Associate Schools Programme 

RSC Learning is one of UK’s largest arts learning programmes, reaching 1,000 schools, 2,000 teachers and hundreds of thousands of young people each year to broaden access to high quality arts learning and transform experiences of Shakespeare in schools. Using the same techniques that our actors use in rehearsals, an approach to learning that engages pupils of  and backgrounds.

The RSC Associate Schools Programme (ASP) is our national schools’ partnership programme, co-produced and developed with 16 regional theatres and open to any primary, secondary and special state-maintained school in England. The programme has a particular focus on areas of socio-economic disadvantage, including partnerships with over 250 schools in 26 cities and towns experiencing structural disadvantage across England. The ASP also includes the RSC’s talent development programmes Next Generation Backstage, Act and Direct, giving young people from communities currently underrepresented in the cultural sector, the opportunity to see if a career in theatre is for them.

First Encounters (FE) productions are part of the RSC’s Shakespeare Nation programme that sees the RSC involving communities and young people in the cities and towns where we tour directly in the creation of our work. For this First Encounters: Romeo and Juliet production, young people were involved in both the selection of the play and, prior to rehearsals, exploring many of the themes and issues of the play with the creative team.

Further information: https://www.rsc.org.uk/learn/associate-schools-programme

https://www.rsc.org.uk/learn/young-people/next-generation

The RSC is supported using public funding by Arts Council England
The work of the RSC is supported by the Culture Recovery Fund
The RSC is generously supported by RSC America
The tour of First Encounters: Romeo and Juliet is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England
The work of the RSC Learning and National Partnerships department is generously supported by Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, The Clore Duffield Foundation, GRoW @ Annenberg, The Polonsky Foundation, Stratford Town Trust, LSEG Foundation, The Goldsmiths’ Company Charity, HDH Wills 1965 Charitable Trust, Teale Charitable Trust, The Grimmitt Trust, Sir James Knott Trust, The Oakley Charitable Trust, and Misses Barrie Charitable Trust

Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)  

The Royal Shakespeare Company creates exceptional theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, London and around the world, performing plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries, as well as commissioning a wide range of original work from contemporary writers. Our purpose is to ensure that Shakespeare – and theatre as a whole – is for everyone, and we do that by unlocking the power of his plays and live performance, and with our learning and education work throughout the UK and across the world. 

Arts Council England is the national development body for arts and culture across England, working to enrich people’s lives. We support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to visual art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2018 and 2022, we will invest £1.45 billion of public money from government and an estimated £860 million from the National Lottery to help create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country.www.artscouncil.org.uk