Romeo en Julia
Shakespeare’s world-famous classic in a contemporary adaptation. Love as a refusal to adopt hate, as a radical alternative, and as an ode to the possibility of choosing differently. Vulnerable, dangerous, and necessary.
Conflicts are flaring up all over the world. Borders are closing, walls are rising, and people are being reduced to their origins or religion. Driven by a growing need for hope and connection, Char Li Chung shows with his Romeo and Juliet that Shakespeare’s world-famous classic is more relevant than ever. The young Romeo and Juliet find themselves on opposite sides of a cultural and religious fault line. For generations, their families have lived in an all-consuming conflict. But when Romeo and Juliet see each other, they fall in love instantly. Going against the current, they choose love. Romeo and Juliet holds up a mirror to us. Not to ask which side you are on, but whether you are willing to let go of the role of enemy.
Shakespeare did not write this story to reassure us; he wrote it to shake us awake. For how can you love in a world that has taught you to hate? Last season, director Char Li Chung, known for The Banana Generation and Cock , among others, very successfully tackled Puccini’s classic Madame Butterfly . For Romeo and Juliet , Chung is once again collaborating with writer Vera Morina on a contemporary adaptation that stays close to the language of Shakespeare’s original.
