Romeo.Juliet

Liverpool-based PurpleDoor bring their uncompromising new adaptation of Shakespeare’s play. Supported by Stephen Fry and nominated for a National Lottery Award, PurpleDoor was launched in 2008, with the intention of supporting working-class actors facing barriers to the industry across the North West of England. Our focus has always been on producing radical Shakespeare and unapologetically speaking the language with regional voices.

Romeo and Juliet is not a love story. The tragedy of a young man radicalised into extreme violence, and the thirteen-year-old girl his actions drive to suicide has been misunderstood for centuries. Following R+D at HOME in Manchester, award-winning PurpleDoor set out to reimagine Shakespeare’s most seemingly well-known play, to uncover its darker side and to understand what Shakespeare was actually telling us in this story of a society driven to madness. Inspired by Adolescence, Romeo.Juliet is the latest in PurpleDoor’s fifteen years’ experience with the Bard, with work co-created and made for local working-class audiences.

‘It doesn’t seem like a bad thing to support PurpleDoor. It’s incredibly exciting’Stephen Fry

‘PurpleDoor have made the events in one of the world’s best known plays seem surprising’Public Reviews

‘PurpleDoor showcase the genius of Shakespeare’Observer, Ireland

‘PurpleDoor’s work is a joy to behold’The Liverpool Echo

‘PurpleDoor’s work is wholly convincing and riveting to watch’Merseysider Magazine

‘This production is an absolute delight’NoMoreWorkHorse

‘The directing lets the work breathe in quite a beautiful way’Public Reviews