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Romeo and Juliet: Out of Pocket

 
Richard Beck Review by Richard Beck 4 Published: 21 Aug 2025 theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall Show Dates: 19 Aug 2025-23 Aug 2025

For a play that starts just after nine o’clock in the morning, you might be forgiven for thinking the cleaners have forgotten to put their trolley away, but it is actually a clue that Romeo & Juliet: Out of Pocket at theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall is going to be an irreverent take on the Bard’s great romantic tragedy.

A fast-paced, frantic farce that’s mad but fun

The two-person adaptation begins with an exchange between the professors who co-teach the Shakespeare course. Eduardo Zucchi plays the visiting Mexican academic who sees and emphasises la pasión of the text, while his British scholar counterpart, Felicity Ison, is obsessed with structure, language and grammar. What follows is a high-energy, eccentric and bonkers romp through the play that debates whether it is one of hope or despair but ends with the pair overcome by the sheer romance in the air.

The aforementioned trolley, complete with cleaning items, mops, gloves and a host of other bits and pieces, is actually the props repository and the couple waste no time in deploying it. Director Alonso Iñiguez has them frantically using everything they can lay their hands on to create over-the-top characters and boost the comedy.

The accomplished performers work well as a physical theatre comic duo, bouncing off each other’s energy to create a fast-paced, frantic farce that is mad but fun. Some lines and speeches from the original play are also given a twist in delivery, confirming that even the most sacred text can be abused and distorted.

Do not be deterred by its being advertised as bilingual. The bulk of Argentine playwright Emiliano Dionisi’s script is in English and the few lines that remain in Spanish can be understood by context and add to the humour.

Grab a coffee and enjoy a light-hearted, lively start to the morning that should put you in a good mood for the rest of the day.

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The Blurb:

What if Romeo and Juliet didn’t end in tragedy, but in something messier and unexpectedly romantic? In this fast-paced bilingual comedy, a British Shakespeare scholar and a Mexican professor go head-to-head to rewrite the world’s most famous romance, performing the entire play themselves in 60 chaotic minutes. What starts as an academic debate erupts into anarchy: chalkboards, sabotage and PowerPoints. As English and Spanish collide, rivalry turns to revelation, and maybe love. Perfect for Shakespeare lovers, sceptics and anyone who’s fallen for their opposite. What if the ending you know… wasn’t the whole story?