The cast has been announced for Guildford Shakespeare Company’s electric production of Romeo & Juliet. This summer, the famous love story will explode onto the streets of Guildford, with an immersive production that sees the action take place along Guildford High Street every evening. To coincide with their innovative production of Shakespeare’s passionate love story, Guildford Shakespeare Company (GSC) are also carrying out a vital outreach project around knife crime awareness, running knife crime awareness workshops with local schools, and curating a special event at Guildford Cathedral to explore the issues.
Taking the titular roles of starcrossed lovers Romeo and Juliet are Christian James (The Enfield Poltergeist, Apple TV; Fighting Irish, Coventry Belgrade; Magic Goes Wrong, West End) and April Hughes (Pride and Prejudice, GSC; Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, The Play That Goes Wrong, West End). Joining them are Laura Matthews (One Man, Two Guvnors, National Theatre; Pride, Proud Films; The Full Monty, UK tour) as Lady Capulet / Tybalt; GSC regular Chris Porter (An Enemy of the People, Wessex Grove; Sherwood Series 2, BBC; Dom the Play, Assembly Rooms/Theatre Royal Windsor) as Lord Capulet; David Carr (Linck & Mülhahn, Hampstead Theatre; RSC; National Theatre; Old Vic) as Friar Laurence; Emma Manton (Love’s Labour’s Lost/Love’s Labour’s Won, RSC; The Life & Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Chichester/West End/Toronto; His Dark Materials, National Theatre) as Nurse / Prince; Luke Latchman (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Sunset Boulevard, West End; Cinderella, Amazon Prime) as Benvolio / Paris; and Daniel Burke (The Witcher, Netflix; The Circle, Theatre Royal Bath, Imperium Part I and Part II, RSC) as Mercutio / Lord Montague. The professional cast will also be joined by a Community Ensemble of adults and young people from four local schools and GSC’s own drama groups.
Audiences will follow the breathtaking action through Guildford as the story unfolds, taking in the iconic Guildhall balcony, historic Abbot’s Hospital and ending in the stunning Castle Gardens.
Putting the show on the High Street and using iconic local landmarks will bring an immediacy to this 400-year-old story. Site-responsive shows enable audiences to interact with their shared space in a completely new, accessible and exciting way.
To help raise awareness of the facts around knife crime, GSC are using the production of Romeo & Juliet to bring together a number of organisations for a special event at Guildford Cathedral on 3rd July, while the company will also be visiting the schools taking part in the Youth Ensemble with special workshops.
Further details about this event, including details of all partners, will be announced week commencing 20th May.
