Unusually for a Shakespeare, the printed programme lists the actors’ names but assigns no parts. You soon see why. Jenny Sealey’s brisk co-production by Graeae and Shakespeare North Playhouse in association with Theatre by the Lake starts not on the streets of Verona but in the queue for a modern-day audition.
Her actors are used to playing extras not leads; whether they are a wheelchair user, neurodivergent or deaf, they are rarely the centre of the story. But when a script of Romeo and Juliet magically drops from the heavens, they agree to give it a go – audition be damned.
