Initial casting has been announced for the 2025 world premiere of ROMEO AND JULIET, an innovative new version of Shakespeare’s play, originally scored with rap and R&B, opening at the Belgrade Theatre from 21 February – 8 March 2025, with a national press night on Wednesday 26 February 2025 before playing in Bristol 12 March – 5 April 2025, and at Hackney Empire 23 – 26 April. Mia Khan will play ‘Juliet’ opposite Kyle Ndukuba as ‘Romeo’, with full casting to be announced in the new year.
Romeo and Juliet is a flagship Belgrade Theatre in-house production, directed by its Creative Director, Corey Campbell. A co-production with Bristol Old Vic and Hackney Empire, with set and costume design by Simon Kenny and in collaboration with local Midlands artists That’s A Rap (lyrics), and A Class (music), this will be the original play, originally scored – with rap and R&B: a Shakespearean lyrical love story – for people who love the music of the spoken word of every generation.
After graduating from Central School of Speech and Drama in 2023, Mia Khan made her West End debut in Sam Mendes critically acclaimed production of The Motive and the Cue in 2024, and went onto make her TV debut as series regular ‘Maya’ in BBC One’s Steeltown Murders.
Kyle Ndukuba graduated from LAMDA in 2024 – Romeo and Juliet will be his professional debut.
Corey Campbell said “Mia and Kyle represent the best and brightest of fresh new UK acting talent, and I am really excited by both of them. I know they’ve both had some great experiences out of the gate, working with some of the greatest directors from around the world, and I’m really looking forward to diving deep into this classic with them, and the whole company.
I was so impressed by both of them in their initial auditions, and then I was doubly impressed by the chemistry between them – they feel like two sharp, instinctual and intuitive performers, and I can’t wait to get started.”
This is unmistakeably Shakespeare’s love story, unaltered in its original text. But it’s not just Shakespeare’s play. There is an important Plus One: rap.
Everything that makes Shakespeare’s play so well loved is here. The rich, feuding families. The intense, forbidden passion. And the flash of violence that tears the young lovers apart, sending them spiralling towards tragedy.
The story shines with new, original elements of rap – as well as soul and R&B. Think every day English as well as the Elizabethan variety. And the poetry of rap rhythms as well as perfect pentameters.
