Belper Arts Festival: Romeo and Juliet

Waller’s swansong to Belper is Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare’s classic love story is brought to new life by a young cast of Larry Waller’s Captive Audience and will be the local director’s last theatrical foray in the town for the foreseeable future. The founder of Captive Audience announced that he is leaving Belper for a new life in Australia this Summer.

Shakespeare’s tale of feuding families, frustrated parents and impossible love comes to Strutt’s Centre as the feature theatre production of the 2019 Belper Arts Festival. “The production promises all the signature surprises audiences might be expecting and features twelve blocks, twenty knives and talent in bucket loads,” says Waller who is staging his fifth and final production under the Captive Audience banner.

But fear not, Captive Audience will be continuing to deliver the classes that it has become well known and respected for under the management of current staff.

“Whilst I’ll be very sad to be leaving Belper behind, I’m confident that our amazing group can continue to inspire new actors in the years to come. I wish to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed to the amazing productions we’ve staged since setting up Captive Audience. I have been blessed with incredible support to stage some memorable shows that will remain with me forever.”

So don’t miss your last opportunity to see Waller’s last directing project for some time.

With an original sound and lighting plan and a fantastic group of brave and articulate young people, many of whom have grown up under the teaching influence of Captive Audience, this classic story abridged for audiences for this year’s Belper Arts Festival will be a blast. The challenge is the original language and bringing it to life.

The show is suitable for children and adults and despite the all-child cast it will be full of mature performers who have dedicated hours of rehearsal time to pay respect to the iconic play. Captive Audience have concentrated on the three main themes of trust, play and truth to access the story and tell this tragic but wonderful story in a creative way.

Play dates are 16th to the 18th of May with shows as detailed below:
16th May – 10:00 and 7:30
17th May 10:00 and 7:30
18th May 2;30 and 7:30

The show runs for just over 2 hours with a 20 min interval.

For tickets, go to https://captiveaudience.org.uk/romeo-and-juliet/ 07779 118834 or call in at Time and Again, 53 King Street, Belper.