Shakespeare’s R&J is an award-winning play that notched up over 400 performances in New York.

Set in a repressive Catholic boys’ boarding school where the play has been banned; four students sneak out at night to secretly explore the roles for their own enjoyment. At first it’s just for laughs, but as the young men discover the text's themes of forbidden love, they become hooked.

“I wanted to get to the essence of what I think Shakespeare is: passionate, violent, thrilling and theatrical,” says playwright, Joe Calarco. “By cutting the cast to four guys we’ve been able to explore the way men interact and how they view women, sex and masculinity. The concept of students in a private school was created in order to mirror Shakespeare’s Verona and the stifling, repressive, forbidden world that Romeo and Juliet inhabit.”

Following a three-state tour in Australia, this highly physical adaptation is at Sydney’s Seymour Centre from June 29 to July 3. 

Directed by Craig Ilott (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, STC’s The Pig Iron People, and Smoke and Mirrors for the Sydney Festival), Shakespeare’s R&J is described as a raw, unadorned, and true-to-the-source production.

Starring young NIDA graduates, Julian Curtis, Ben Gerrard, Garth Holcombe, and WAAPA graduate Tom Stokes, you can catch Shakespeare's R&J at the Seymour Centre from June 29 to July 3. To book, visit the website or phone the box office on (02) 9351 7940.

This production is part of Seymour Centre's education program. For more information and to download teachers’ resources visit the website.