An explosive Romeo and Juliet hits the stage once again

A bold, energetic and hard hitting adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet directed by William Scott Richards and assisted by Visaka Jayaweera will be staged at the British Council garden from September 6 to 8 at 7 p.m. each night. Shortened to just one hour, this version of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet sponsored by the British Council, arises out of many workshops focusing on developing skills for actors in voice and approaches to classical text.

The ensemble telling of this well known story will use Shakespeare's text in English & in Sinhala translation. The cast, of mainly young actors, come from both English & Sinhala speaking theatre traditions. The director, William Scott Richards, has been training actors for over 12 years at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) as well as directing and teaching internationally. He has directed for the BBC, in the West End and Regional Theatres in the UK. As voice and text coach, he has worked for Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre, within opera for Royal Opera House & English National Opera; within dance for CandoCo & DV8. Recently, he was director of training for Billy Elliot the Musical in London.

The performance at the British Council is preceded by many performances at outstation locations and British Council Regional English Support Centres. It was first staged at the Hilton Colombo garden in February to a packed audience. Tickets priced at Rs. 500 are on sale at the British Council's main reception. For more information please call 4521542.