Shakespeare North Playhouse and Graeae to Co-Produce Romeo and Juliet With an All Deaf, Disabled & Neurodivergent Cast

Tue 21 May, 2024

Today, Shakespeare North Playhouse and Graeae announce a new production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet for this Autumn.  Directed by Graeae’s artistic director Jenny Sealey and staged in association with Theatre by the Lake, the production will open at Shakespeare North Playhouse on 13th September, where it will run to 5th October, before moving to Theatre by the Lake from 12th to 26th October.  

“Love is heavy and light, bright and dark, hot and cold, sick and healthy, asleep and awake
– it is everything except what it is.”

This retelling of Shakespeare’s eternal love story seamlessly weaves BSL, Captions and Audio Description into the storytelling. Each show is performed in a relaxed environment by an ensemble of Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent actors.

Against all odds, a young couple fall in love.

An intense, vibrant love that burns and ignites a powder keg within communities already smoldering with tension. Tragic misunderstandings follow, with deadly consequences.

You think you know how this story goes, and who this couple is?

Maybe you do… Maybe you don’t.

This new production of Shakespeare’s tragic story of star-crossed lovers, celebrates differences, challenges preconceptions and shines a light on what ultimately brings us together – love.

Jenny Sealey OBE, Artistic Director at Graeae says –

Someone on Twitter told me, ‘here’s a novel idea- do a Shakespeare with an all disabled cast and sell tickets to only disabled people. Good luck with that’.  Well I am indeed doing a Shakespeare- Romeo and Juliet with an all Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent cast but it is a play for the audiences of the NW whether they be Deaf, disabled, neurodivergent or non-disabled. Romeo and Juliet is a play that can touch us all.  I am very excited to be working on this with my wonderful cast and creative team and to play at Shakespeare North Playhouse and Theatre by the Lake.

Laura Collier, Creative Director at Shakespeare North Playhouse, says –

“We are thrilled to embark on this incredible collaboration with Graeae and Theatre by the Lake. Romeo and Juliet is perhaps the most famous of all stories to crushingly explore the conflict of youth. In this new production I want all the audience to feel like all of us can be Romeo, and all of us can be Juliet. Together, we will celebrate humanity, challenge preconceptions, and shine a light on what ultimately brings us together—love.

13th September – 5th October at Shakespeare North Playhouse
https://shakespearenorthplayhouse.co.uk/event/romeo-juliet-sngraeae/

12th October – 26th October at Theatre by the Lake
https://www.theatrebythelake.com