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Star-cros’d Lovers Fall Victim to Mafia Feud in Game of Thrones Castle

Richard Beck Richard Beck
20 Jun 2019

The notorious Mala de Brenta mafia has established itself in Fort Lovrijenac, Dubrovnik, famous as the Red Keep in King’s Landing, capital of the Seven Kingdoms in Game of Thrones, where the tourney thrown in honour of King Joffrey’s name day was held in season two.

The syndicate began to dominate the 1960’s regional crime scene in northern Italy and this period provides the setting for the rivalry between the Montagues and the Capulets in a new production of Romeo and Juliet directed by Sean Aita that remains faithful to the play’s original setting in Verona. Aita has written for and directed at Vienna’s English Theatre for over thirty years, having trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He spent five years as Associate Director at the Royal Theatre, Northampton, before becoming Artistic Director of the UK touring theatre company Forest Forge, where he won awards for both directing and writing. Overseas theatre is nothing new to him. He’s lead acting workshops in Mexico City and Los Angeles, and his work as a drama examiner for Trinity College, London has recently taken him to Mumbai and Shanghai.

The play forms part of the sixth season of The Midsummer Scene Festival, a joint project that involves Brilliant Events, Dubrovnik, the city, its tourist board and Honey-tongued Theatre Productions Ltd., London, formed in 2012 by Filip Krenus (Artistic Director). The aim was to ‘curate and champion the works of playwrights from South-Eastern Europe whose works still remain largely unknown or underperformed in the U.K.’. In previous years, taking productions in the other direction, Krenus has presented A Midsummer Night’s Dream (three times), Twelfth Night and Hamlet as the centrepiece of the southernmost English theatre festival in Europe, of which he is Artistic Director.

The initial ambition to create a ‘cultural bridge’ between the United Kingdom and the region has grown in several directions. He set up and produced the first festival of Croatian contemporary drama in London, Short Shrift, which was sponsored by the Croatian Ministry of Culture and the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in the United Kingdom. In 2015 a successful collaboration with the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra was established and they will provide the opening concert again this year. The Festival also collaborates with The House of Marin Držić, a museum that pays tribute to the outstanding Croatian and European Renaissance writer and dramatist (1508 -1567) who penned some of the finest comedies of the period. This year, fragments of his play Uncle Maroye have been grouped together and will be performed under the direction of Paolo Tišljarić at the Rector’s Palace, where the comedy was first presented in 1551. The comedy has been translated into English by Filip Krenus.

The season’s programme also includes Roulston & Young’s cabaret, Songs for Lovers (and Other Idiots) and a play about Croatian poet Vesna Parun I Who Have Hands More Innocent.

The ‘star-cross'd lovers’ are played by two graduates from The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Clement Charles was cast as a suitably youthful looking Romeo shortly before he completed his studies this year. In addition to his performances at the Conservatoire he has had significant outside successes. His commanding solo performance as Nick in About a Goth at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2017 captured the eye of Taggart creator Glenn Chandler. By 2018 Chandler had written Kids Play for him, a two hander he shared with Gareth Watkins, that received numerous five star reviews and won the coveted Bobby Award from Broadway Baby. He’s already in preparation for Chandler’s new 2019 Edinburgh play, The Good Scout, which goes into full rehearsal as soon as he returns from Dubrovnik.

Aita directed Charles in a third year production at the RBC last winter. A few weeks into rehearsals he offered him the part of Romeo. Charles fully appreciates the coup he pulled off and is making the most of the opportunity. “I’m very honoured,” he says, “to have this as my first professional engagement since graduating from drama school. The actors I'm working with are extremely talented and are teaching me a lot.” He’s also impressed by the historic open-air setting and how it will impact the production. “It creates a wonderfully strong atmosphere for us to play in. Romeo talks a lot about the stars and their involvement in his life so having them right there above me to either talk to or about is just incredible!”

Georgia Christodoulou graduated from RBC two years ago and worked with Aita on a touring production around Austria last year of his play A Family Affair. “I’m really looking forward to working with Sean again,” she proclaims excitedly, “and on such a different project. I will be taking lots of pictures of King's Landing for all my Game of Thrones obsessed friends!” Cast as Juliet, she seems to have an affinity with titular females, having previously performed the The Dutch Lady with Fred Theatre, where she was able to breathe in the Bard’s air in his home town. In contrast to her dramatic roles she also performs with improvised comedy group The Improlectuals doing shows in the Midlands and London throughout the year. “I am thrilled to be cast as Juliet,” she says, “and I’m very excited to be performing in Croatia and particularly at Fort Lovrijenac.” Mark Elstob, Richard Emerson, Filip Krenus, Jenni Lea-Jones, Nicholas Limm, Amanda Osborne and Alexander Varey complete the cast.

The Midsummer Scene Festival can be added to a host of other events that raise the cultural temperature in Dubrovnik’s long summer evenings, along with the beautiful beaches, fabulous food, wonderful wines, spectacular scenery, terrific towns and a complex history that make a visit to Croatia so worthwhile,

The Midsummer Scene Festival starts on June 21st and runs until July 7th.

https://midsummer-scene.com

Richard Beck

Richard Beck

A graduate in theology and education, Richard acted and contributed to dance, drama and music productions throughout his teaching career. He joined Broadway Baby in 2014 and is now our Editor-in-Chief. He usually disappears to warmer climes for the winter to pursue his passion for travel.

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