RSC’s Romeo and Juliet to be aired on BBC Four this weekend

The Royal Shakespeare Company's 2018 production of Romeo and Juliet will be aired on BBC Four this weekend. The Shakespeare play is available to watch from 7th June as part of BBC's Culture in Quarantine series.

The production was first performed at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2018, before transferring to the Barbican in the same year. Since then, the show has toured across the United Kingdom.

The Romeo and Juliet cast includes Bally Gill, who won an Ian Charleson Award for his performance as Romeo, previously performing in shows at the Arts Theatre and the Menier Chocolate Factory. The Olivier Award-nominated actress Karen Fishwick played Juliet, previously starring in Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour at the Duke of York's Theatre.

Erica Whyman directed the production, with design by Tom Piper, movement by Ayse Tashkiran and fights by Kate Waters. Speaking about the production's televised debut, Whyman said: "I'm absolutely delighted that audiences across the UK will have the chance to experience the thrill of Shakespeare's revolutionary love story afresh... The play is fundamentally about how to give hope to the next generation in turbulent times, which feels incredibly relevant to now."

In a review of Romeo and Juliet for LondonTheatre.co.uk, Mark Shenton said: "[Erica] Whyman's production, staged in modern street clothing, is rather over-insistent in drawing other contemporary resonance... She has, however, at least grounded the play in an appropriate sense of its youthfulness, with the title roles played... with an ardent sense of authenticity."

^{Photo credit: Topher McGrillis (Royal Shakespeare Company)}