Tue 17 Sep

Enable Magazine on Romeo & Juliet…

“Love is heavy and light, bright and dark, hot and cold, sick and healthy, asleep and awake – it is everything except what it is.” Posted By: Enable Magazine 23 August 2024

This Autumn, Shakespeare North Playhouse and Graeae in association with Theatre by the Lake are staging a brand-new production of Shakespeare’s eternal love story Romeo and Juliet. Directed by Graeae’s artistic director, Jenny Sealey OBE, the production will open at Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot on 13 September, before moving on to Keswick from 12 October.

For over 40 years, Graeae has cultivated and championed the best in Deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent talent, locally, nationally, and internationally.

Passionate about igniting artistic curiosity, Graeae champions accessibility and provides a platform for new generations of artists through the creation of trail-blazing theatre. It is this spirit of artistic access that brings this retelling of Romeo and Juliet to life.

The show will seamlessly weave BSL, creative captioning, and audio description into the storytelling. Each show will be performed in a relaxed environment by an ensemble of Deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent actors.

Speaking about the piece, director Jenny Sealey said: “Our diverse cast has every right to take on a narrative which is usually reserved for a non-disabled cast, and we share a desire to make the play relevant and accessible, for audiences not to become stultified by Shakespearean text.

I want our audiences to be reminded of the need to love, and the need to be loved, and to feel and understand the extreme decisions Romeo and Juliet take.

I want the production to remove the language barrier and for people new to Shakespeare, or who are concerned they won’t ‘get it’, to be able to say Shakespeare is for them.”

Romeo and Juliet is perhaps the most famous of all stories to explore the conflict of youth, love, and passion, and proves an incredible opportunity for three creative powerhouses, Shakespeare North Playhouse, Graeae and Theatre by the Lake to collaborate. Together, celebrating humanity, challenging preconceptions, and shining a light on what ultimately brings us together – love – is the order of the day.

You think you know who Romeo and Juliet are, and how this story goes?

Maybe you do, maybe you don’t…

See Romeo and Juliet at Theatre by the Lake, Keswick from 12 – 26 October.