ROMEO & JULIET IN THEIR 40s: FURTHER CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR NEW VIC AND NOT TOO TAME’S BOLD REIMAGINING OF ROMEO & JULIET

3rd August 2026

The New Vic Theatre and Not Too Tame have announced further casting for their reimagining of Romeo & Juliet, joining previously announced cast members Russell Kane and Natalie Casey. A bold new adaptation of the story, which sees Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers meet in their 40s, the production marks the first collaboration between the theatre-in-the-round and Not Too Tame and will be directed by Not Too Tame’s Artistic Director and UK Theatre Award Best Director nominee, Jimmy Fairhurst.

Previously announced, award-winning comedian Russell Kane will star as Romeo in his first stage role opposite renowned television and stage star Natalie Casey (2.22: A Ghost Story, UK Tour; Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps, BBC3) as Juliet, with both making their New Vic Theatre debut.

They are joined by an equally exciting company of performers who will bring this new version of Shakespeare’s play to bristling, surprising life. Andrew Butler (Ages, Old Vic; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare North Playhouse)will playPeter; Louise Haggerty (Twelfth Night, Shakespeare North Playhouse; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare North Playhouse & Northern Stage) will play Nurse; Lizzie Hopley (Princess Essex, The Taming of the Shrew, Globe Theatre) will play Capulet; Patrick Knowles (Shitfaced Shakespeare, Royal Shakespeare Company; Two Noble Kinsmen, Troilus and Cressida, Gielgud Theatre) will play Friar and Tybalt; David Nellist (Pitmen Painters, New Vic; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare North Playhouse/Northern Stage/Not Too Tame) will return to the New Vic stage as Montague and Paris and Ray Sesay (Romeo & Juliet, Jamie Lloyd Company, West End; Anna Karenina, Bristol Old Vic & Royal Lyceum Edinburgh)will playMercutio.

Directed by Jimmy Fairhurst, this first-time collaboration between the two companies offers a fresh perspective on Shakespeare’s most famous love story.

Rather than meeting as teenagers, this Romeo & Juliet encounter one another as adults, bringing a lifetime of experience, relationships and emotional baggage to a story audiences think they already know. The production explores what happens when the intensity of first love collides with the complexities of adult relationships and views the story afresh from the perspective of age.

Director of Romeo & Juliet and Artistic Director of Not Too Tame Jimmy Fairhurst said: “Our third Shakespeare title brings a genuinely exceptional cast to a stage outside London, proof that world-class Shakespeare doesn’t need a West End postcode. What excites me most is the range in this company. We’ve got world-class performers from a variety of backgrounds stepping into Shakespeare for the first time alongside others who’ve built careers on it, and this mix creates something vibrantly alive from a squad that is ready and willing to take risks.

Ageing Romeo & Juliet into their forties in 2026 will ask audiences to re-examine the relationships, friendships and blood ties in Shakespeare’s greatest love story, and in doing so might hold up an uncomfortable mirror to some relationships in their own lives. Romeo and Juliet is one of the most performed plays in the English language, which means audiences think they know exactly what they’re getting. My job, and this company’s job, is to make sure they don’t. We want people leaving the theatre having felt something they didn’t expect from a story they thought they already knew.”

Romeo & Juliet opens at the New Vic on Thursday 17 September and runs until Saturday 10 October 2026. The production forms part of the New Vic’s 40^th anniversary programme.

For more information visit newvictheatre.org.uk

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