Romeo and Juliet

Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet is a passionate and contemporary re-imagining of Shakespeare’s classic love story. The exact location and time period in which Romeo and Juliet is based is left purposefully non-specific. The audience are left to make up their own mind about ‘where and when’ this story exists. The story unfolds within a time-period of about three weeks. The characters that exist within this ‘world’ are faced with a society in which love is forbidden.

Continue onwards using the three links below to uncover the story of our Romeo and Juliet, but beware of spoilers!

Romeo and Juliet is perhaps the best-known love story in the English literary tradition. William Shakespeare’s tragic tale from the late 1500’s has often been associated with the real-life events of two lovers who tragically died for each other in 14^th century Verona, though there’s no official record of this event. Whatever the motivation behind it, Romeo and Juliet remains one of Shakespeare’s most enduring pieces of writing, with universal themes that are still relevant today. Directors from all four corners of the globe have since produced their own interpretations of it.

Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet reimagines the era, setting, characters and to some extent, the plot, though the core notion of two young people whose forbidden love causes them to pay the ultimate sacrifice remains central to his production.

Explore the production elements that make up Matthew Bourne's Romeo and Juliet with the creatives and crew that work on our show

As with all New Adventures productions Matthew Bourne works with a team of collaborators on the various design elements of the show. Below are links to our designers for Romeo and Juliet, all of which have worked on many of our other shows, as well as the Young Associates chosen to work alongside them.

Meet the dancers of the Romeo & Juliet company in a selection of video interviews. Here you can find out more about the some of the characters in the production as well as some of our dancer journeys.

To celebrate our passionate and contemporary re-imagining of Shakespeare’s classic love story bursting with youth, vitality and Matthew Bourne’s trademark storytelling, we documented our journey with the young talent who make up this unique production.

From the 80 Local Cast members to our team of Young Associate Artists, we've followed their experience throughout the tour. We are also proud to have had sixteen young artists make their debut with New Adventures with this production, including two Lord of the Flies young cast participants and five third-year dance students who completed their training whilst on tour with the show. They all joined nineteen members of the New Adventures company to complete the full casting for Romeo and Juliet.

Full documentary coming soon, here's a taster...