WR4 RT U Romeo?: An 80-minute acting edition of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet

"After Baz Luhrman’s “rockin’ version of R&J, it was hard to see where this story could go next." Distilling the two-hour traffic of Shakespeare’s stage down to not much more than an hour, this exciting adaptation of the one of the world’s best loved plays promises to turn the feuds and passions of Verona’s star-crossed lovers into a fast-paced 80-minute white-knuckle ride of emotions. With the cast stripped down from 25 to just 13 characters, a company of only 8 or 9 players is needed to bring us a sharp-suited, power-broking Lady Capulet, dangerously charismatic Friar, and an edgy intelligent younger generation, more likely to text "WR4 RT U RMEO?" from their smartphones than soliloquise in tights. Purists need not bristle, however. As adapting playwright Laurence Phillips explains: This is not a modern language production. These are Shakespeare’s words and this is still the original seductive iambic verse. We have just siphoned off the froth and are serving it neat. We have taken the play out of the cosy classroom and brought it into the streets of the 21st century. “ An excellent script to work from: Laurence Phillips’ abridgement ruthlessly axes all that is unnecessary to leave tight action and witty dialogue while losing none of the emotion, tenderness or compassion that you expect from this play. Refreshing to find a writer who is not afraid to pare Shakespeare down to the core to bring out the raw storyline.” - UKtheatre.net

This acting version of the play has been created Laurence Phillips playwright, songwriter, poet and award-winning author who has travelled quite a bit, but whose words have journeyed much further – being performed from the West End to the South Pacific. Laurence has penned several plays and pantomimes and written a number of songs for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s hit international musical The Shakespeare Revue. His voice was once a familiar feature on BBC radio – usually talking about his adventures in France - and all the many books he has written about his travels and the people he meets. His verses for children, recently collected in the anthology Poetry Is Boring, are ever popular in schools around the country. Many of his plays were originally written for the Greasepaint Anonymous theatre workshops in London, where Laurence taught drama for several years.