Thou can’ st not speak of that thou dost not feel...

It takes a village to kill a child. 

​

The existential crisis facing our world today, the product of a lack of practical leadership from our earth’s elders, has triggered a deafening chorus of ‘How dare you!’, screamed from the heart of our planet’s youth. And it’s not just about climate issues. What can children teach us in their struggle to be heard?

​

Sport for Jove’s furiously energetic new production of Romeo & Juliet is characterised by a true vision of today’s youth - the rarely seen innovation of actual teenagers playing the play’s children – Juliet, Romeo, Paris, Mercutio, Benvolio, Balthazar, all aged 14-18, and surrounded by an extraordinary cast of experienced players, gives this production an authenticity and honest rawness, danger and the genuine awkwardness of youth. 

​

Director Damien Ryan’s production takes on the spirit of a filthy Italian opera, lead with an original acapella vocal score by Naomi and Drew Livingston, driven by heat and sensuality, chaos, fights and fevers of the mind, and of course, by Shakespeare’s soaring poetry. We carry us to backcountry Verona, a profoundly insular town, trapped in cycles of tradition and vendetta, staring out at the future with moral pollution at its heart. Only its children’s courage to express themselves will bring change. With the mad blood stirring, two young lovers meet and set in motion the most iconic love story of all time, that of Juliet and her Romeo.

​

Filmed in 2019 at Bella Vista Farm, Sydney. This live production, filmed outdoors, features the ambient sound of the evening birds through the first 25 minutes. They are completely silent once darkness falls.