A spot of Romeo and Juliet, with a unique and modern twist, is heading our way! Joe Calarco’s award-winning Shakespeare’s R&J re-imagines Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers as two adolescent schoolboys in a Catholic boarding school during the 1950s. Their love for one another becomes the ultimate forbidden love in an austere, repressive all-male milieu. The play will be brought to life from 23 August – 8 September at The Pieter Toerien Theatre in Monte.

Four pupils discover an illicit copy of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and start acting it out in their dormitory late one night. Perceptions and understandings are turned upside down as the fun of play-acting turn serious and the words and meanings begin to hit home and universal truths emerge.

Shakespeare’s R&J was first presented by Expanded Arts Inc. New York in September 1997. It then opened at the John Houseman Theatre, New York in March 1998 where it ran for over a year (385 performances) making it the longest-running version of Romeo and Juliet in New York.

The play is directed by Fred Abrahamse and stars Matthew Baldwin, Dean Balie, Jeremy Richard and Tailyn Ramsamy.

Venue: Pieter Toerien’s Montecasino Theatre
Dates: 23 August – 8 September
Tickets are R 120 and are available Theatre Box Office (011) 511 1818 and Computicket – here…