The current resident rep company at Liverpool Everyman will join with 50 members of Young Everyman Playhouse for Nick Bagnall's gender-swapping Romeo and Juliet.
George Caple will play Romeo and Elliott Kingsley will be Juliet, recast as Julius, the latter in his professional stage debut after being offered a training place funded by Everyman alumni folling YEP auditions.
The production will feature two YEP members Isobel Balchin (Benvolio) and Alice Corrigan (Balthasar) along with a women’s chorus and a further 25 young people as the rival gangs.
Director Bagnall said, “it is a play that is constantly revisited and demands to be placed in modern times to allow it to reflect the lives of young people today. We are strongly committed to creating work with and for young people, so bringing the Rep Company together with YEP and Romeo & Juliet in such an exciting way is the perfect choice.”
In the rest of the cast, Richard Bremmer plays Friar Laurence, Patrick Brennan is the Prince, Tom Kanji plays Tybalt and Friar John, Asha Kingsley plays Lady Capulet, the Nurse will be Melanie La Barrie, Dean Nolan will be Mercutio, Zelina Rebeiro plays Countess Paris and Lord and Lady Montague will be played by Liam Tobin and Keddy Sutton. Pauline Daniels, Laura Dos Santos and Emily Hughes join the chorus.
The production runs at Liverpool Everyman Theatre from 27 May to 7 June 2017.