SHAKESPEARE?S STAR-CROSSED LOVERS AS YOU?VE NEVER SEEN THEM BEFORE

Set against a back-drop of social unrest, economic recession and youth unemployment, Romeo and Juliet is transported from fair Verona to 80?s era Camden Town in this thrilling adaptation by award-winning playwright Lola Chakrabarti. The National Youth Theatre brings a youthful exuberance to the play ? who better to tell the timeless story of young love and misunderstood youth?

Accompanied by a New Wave and Ska-heavy soundtrack, Shakespeare?s time-honoured verses are given new life by the cast?s idiosyncratic readings. The modern makeover of quintessential characters also serves to rejuvenate this age-old tale (see Essex-esque nurse and gender-swapped Mercutio).

WHAT IS ROMEO AND JULIET ABOUT?

Juliet, youngest daughter of the Capulet family, and Romeo, youngest son of the Montague family, fall swiftly and irrevocably in love-at-first-sight. Alas their families run the two most prominent clothes stall in Camden, and this rivalry means their love is forbidden. Of course, the headstrong teenagers can?t be kept apart and violence breaks out when Juliet?s cousin, the enraged Tybalt, challenges Romeo to a fight. Blood is shed and Romeo is exiled from Camden?s streets but the young lovers, determined to be together, take fate into their own hands?