Romeo & Juliet
Locations
14 beautiful garden spaces
Performances
16 performances
Tickets
3,000 tickets sold
Year
2017
Our 2017 production was Romeo and Juliet. Set in sun-drenched 1950s Italy, the play was, in the words of our Director, Tatty Hennessy, “youthful, full-blooded, sexually charged and heady, full of paeans to the speed of young love, the giddiness of youth, the rashness of quick violence, the heat of the Summer”
Reception
Critical Acclaim
‘A fun vibe and clear unpretentious storytelling.’
– Time Out
‘A square deal for the family with multi-cultural casting and fabulous forties Italian costumes.’
– Daily Mail
‘Delightful open air Shakespeare. Realistic fights and exuberant music.’
– The Stage
‘Enjoyable – a lovely introduction to Shakespeare for the uninitiated.’
– Broadway World
‘Summer evenings, lush garden squares and a masterfully acted Shakespeare play.’
– Garden Square News
‘A wonderful evening and a very stylish performance.’
– Fiona Fleming-Brown, Elgin and Arundel
‘Energetic and charming; the audience were completely engrossed.’
– Joanna Kennedy, Little Wormwood Scrubs Park
‘A great standard of acting and a brilliant interpretation of the play.’
– Carol Hannay, St James’s Square
‘The show was wonderful, exciting, so well directed, top class acting, brilliant use of music…will you do it again next year, please!’
– Julie Harrison, Wandsworth
‘A triumph. I have rarely, if ever, seen a more convincing and enchanting production.’
– Alison Cathie, Cleveland
‘Terrific. I’ve seen many over the years and your production was easily one of the best. It was so imaginative and fresh – wonderful acting and wonderful direction.’
– Jacqueline Korn Glasser, Montague Street Garden
‘I loved it! There’s a magic in watching a story unfolding outdoors that makes it more Shakespearean. And the charming, multi-talented, musical, super-athletic group of actors played into all of that – as moving and intimate a performance as I’ve ever seen.’
– Jackie Ivimy, Elgin and Arundel
‘The production was wonderful. The audience was transfixed and I loved the direct interaction with them. There were a lot of children and I am sure they will be Shakespeare fans for life now.’
– Tim Lebus, St James’s Gardens
Actors
Cast
Jack Brett
Mercutio
Jack trained at Guildford School of Acting.
Theatre credits include: Alfie Strange: Trained Time Travellers Only (New Wolsey Theatre Tour), Underneath a Magical Moon (York Theatre Royal and UK Tour), My Friend Peter (Arts Theatre and UK Tour), Cymbeline (Guildford Shakespeare Company), Party Piece (New Wolsey/Edinburgh Fringe), The Crash of Elysium (Punchdrunk) and The Rising (Gecko).
Naomi Bullock
Lady Capulet
Naomi trained at Drama Studio London.
Theatre credits include: Aladdin (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch), News Revue (Canal Cafe/Edinburgh Festival), A Christmas Carol (Maxim Theatre, Stockholm), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Courtyard Theatre), The Great Gatsby (King’s Head/Riverside Studios), Peter Pan, Snow White (Theatre Royal Winchester), Hamlet, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Young Shakespeare Company), Cartography (Soho Theatre), Starchild (King’s Head), Cyrano de Bergerac (White Bear), Drama About Ante (Blue Elephant), Tinkerbox (Brighton Fringe).
TV credits: Doctors (BBC), No Point (TV pilot), and various TV commercials. Naomi is also a musician and dabbles in stand-up comedy.
Andrew Gallow
Prince/Paris
Professional credits include: Mick Avery in Sunny Afternoon (UK Tour), David Copperfield/Nicholas Nickelby in Adam Long’s Dickens Abridged (UK Tour), Parade (Hope Mill Theatre), Saturday Night Fever (UK Tour), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Stockport Plaza Theatre), The Theory of Relativity (Dreyton Arms Theatre), Sister Act (Aberystwyth Arts Centre), MV Azura (P&O Cruises), The Rock n’ Roll Panto (City Varieties Music Hall, Leeds), Hairspray (Aberystwyth Arts Centre).
Credits during training include: Bertram in All’s Well That Ends Well (Shakespeare’s Globe – Sam Wanamaker Festival 2012), Johnny Brash in The Great Backstage Musical, Lucius Andronicus in Titus Andronicus, Isador Straus in Titanic: The Musical, Howie Corbett in Rabbit Hole.
Indigo Griffiths
Juliet
Indigo trained at Drama Studio London.
Theatre credits include The Interrogation of Sandra Bland (Bush Theatre), Grimm: An Untold Tale (Edinburgh Festival), The Road to Heidelberg (UEA).
Elizabeth Marsh
Nurse
Theatre credits include: Jenny in The Threepenny Opera, Liesl in Afterlife (National Theatre), Yitzak in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Myra Yerkes in Road Show, Vaudevillains, Gondoliers, Carmen (West End/London), Mme Giry in Phantom of the Opera, Secret Adversary, Larkrise to Candleford (UK tours), Betty in Blonde Bombshells of 1943 (West Yorkshire Playhouse/Hampstead Theatre), Vanni/The Mathematician in A Life of Gallileo, Ymma in Silence (Birmingham Rep), Fay in Iron, Klytaimestra in Elektra, Marquise de Merteuil in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Eleanor in Dead Funny (Theatre by the Lake, Keswick), Mary in Merrily We Roll Along (Watermill Theatre, Newbury), Beverley in Abigail’s Party (New Victoria Theatre, Stoke), Annie Wilkes in Misery, Rose in Brighton Rock, Jean Rice in The Entertainer, Louisa in Hard Times (Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch), Forinda/Rapunzel in Into the Woods, Fabia in Twelfth Night (York Theatre Royal).
TV/Film credits include: Casualty (BBC), The Falling (BBC/Malady Films), Filthy Cities (BBC), Coronation Street (Granada).
Elizabeth also works as a director, most recently directing Steel Magnolias for the Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch.
Bruce Panday
Lord Capulet
Bruce has experience in touring, West End, TV/film and Repertory.
Theatre credits include: The Listening Room (Old Red Lion), White Carnation (Finborough Theatre), Twelfth Night (Dundee Rep), Moonlight Serenade (Lyric H’smith), Pied Piper of Hamlyn(Chichester Fest. Theatre), Lennon (Astoria Theatre).
Television credits include: The Bill, (Thames TV) London’s Burning, (LWT) The Early Days (Ch 4).
This is Bruce’s first open air performance.
Julia Righton
Sister Laurence
Julia trained at the Drama Centre London with Yat Malmgren and Christopher Fettes.
Theatre credits include: Elizabeth I in Elizabeth (Linbury Studio, Royal Opera House), Ben Elton’s first play Gasping (Theatre Royal Haymarket), The Duchess of Malfi, Woman In Mind and Hamletmachine (Edinburgh Lyceum), The Secret Life of Swift and Gulliver (UK tour and Riverside Studios), The Threepenny Opera, Julius Caesar and The Bright and Bold Design (New Vic Theatre), The Secret Garden (Tobacco Factory, Bristol), A Taste of Honey, Skinned, The Wizard of Oz and The Grizzled Skipper (Nuffield Theatre), Lady Windermere’s Fan (Theatre Royal Haymarket), She Stoops To Conquer and The Bandwagon (New Farnham Rep), The Tragical Historie Tour and Come On, Jeeves! (Chester Gateway), Shakespeare for Everyone (RSC), Moments Of Madness (Volcano Theatre Company).
Film credits include: Further and Particular (Channel 4). TV credits include: The Ink Thief (Tyne Tees TV).
Hannah Sinclair Robinson
Benvolio
Hannah trained at East 15 Acting School and Bath Spa University.
Theatre Credits include: Alice Stokes Paul in Atrophy (Etcetera Theatre).
Television credits include: Antoinette Frank in Killer Cops (Sky Vision).
Film credits include: Naomi in Urban Decay (Urban Street Productions).
Workshops include: Detangled (with Paulette Randall at Hackney Empire), For Want Of a Nail with Oakhill Productions.
Adam Strawford
Romeo
Film credits include: BFI Film Festival nominated director Joseph. A. Adesunloye’s Faces (Dreamcoat Productions).
TV credits include: Silent Witness (BBC).
Adam is also an ex GB swimmer.
Roger Suubi
Tybalt
Roger trained at East 15 Acting School.
Credits whilst training include: King Lear in King Lear, John in Blackout, Hounslow in Beaux Stratagem, Jehosaphat in Tales of Urban Folks, Reverend Nelson Woods in Blue Whistlers.
Roger has just finished shooting the newest MacMillan Advertising Campaign.
Behind the Scenes
Crew
Yarit Dor
Movement and Fight Director
Yarit is a former dancer and dramaturge of Hagit Yakira Dance Company and is an Associate Artist of The Director’s Cut Theatre Company and an Associate Tutor at RADA.
She has choreographed movement and violence on a variety of shows from musicals and new writing to classics and devised theatre.
Theatre credits include: Assata Taught Me (The Gate Theatre), The Iphigenia Quartet (The Gate Theatre), Dark Tourism (Park Theatre), Diary of a Madman (The Gate Theatre), Disgraced (English Theatre Frankfurt), Zastrozzi (Norwich Dragon Hall), Titus Andronicus (Greenwich Theatre), Macbeth: Fire Burn (Colchester Shakespeare Festival), Henry V (Peckham Asylum), Kiss of the Earth (Corn Exchange Newbury), The Sorrows of Satan (Tristan Bates), Noonday Demons (King’s Head Theatre), Macbeth (RIFT Theatre), A Skull in Connemara (White Bear Theatre), Somewhere Between a Self and An Other (Dance 4 Nottingham), Leah (The Place).
Sue Fletcher
Executive Producer
Sue had a forty-year career in book publishing, including as co-founder of Headline and deputy MD of Hodder & Stoughton. She has an MA in Theatre and Performance from Queen Mary University of London, and in 2011 was one of the judges of the Olivier Awards.
Suneeda Maruthiyil
Production Manager
Suneeda trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts .
She is a freelance Production / Company Stage Manager and Designer/Maker and has worked on a variety of productions and events over the last 9 years.
Holly Clarke
Assistant Costume Designer
Holly Clarke trained at Wimbledon School of Art. She was part of the design team for the inaugural production of Shakespeare in the Squares’ Much Ado Abut Nothing and has also worked on films including ‘Le Weekend’ and ‘Autopsy of Jane Doe’.
Richard Baker
Music Director
Richard is a musical director, qualified teacher, vocal coach and composer. He has been involved with two Olivier-nominated productions, as composer and improvising musical director, both nominated for ‘Best New Comedy’ in 2016 and 2018 (Peter Pan Goes Wrong at the Apollo Theatre and Mischief Movie Night at the Arts Theatre, respectively).
He has recently worked as an MD on Sasha Regan’s All Male lolanthe and Sasha Regan’s All Male Mikado for their national tours, Secret Garden at the Ambassadors Theatre, NewsRevue at the Canal Cafe Theatre and Road Show, Lucky Stiff, Anyone Can Whistle and Out House at the Union Theatre.
Tatty Hennessy
Director
Tatty’s recent work as a director includes The Snow Queen (Theatre N16) and Acorn (The Courtyard). She has directed new work for Pint Sized, Theatre Renegade and the Miniaturists, and is an associate director with Merely Theatre, a gender-blind touring Shakespearean rep company. She has been an Assistant Director for the Park, Lyric and Globe theatres, including the recent Globe to Globe World Tour of Hamlet which visited every country in the world. She is also a playwright and graduate of the Royal Court and Lyric Theatre Young Writers’ programmes.
Alix Henry
Stage Manager
Alix has just spent the last eight months as Stage Manager on The Commitments UK and Ireland tour. Before that she was Venue Manager for 6 temporary venues with Assembly Festival during the Edinburgh Fringe, a company she has worked for since 2012.
Other theatre credits include Adelaide Fringe, Sydney Festival, Citizens Glasshouse (Cardboard Citizens UK tour), The Importance of Being Earnest (London Classic Theatre), A Christmas Carol (Talkwood Productions).
Alix is looking forward to returning as Stage Manager with Shakespeare in the Squares for the second year after such a successful run on Much Ado About Nothing in 2016.
Martin Neild
Executive Producer
Martin has worked in publishing for over thirty years. He worked for Macmillan in Australia, Africa and London and then became Managing Director and Chief Executive of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers in 1993. He is chair of the Chipping Norton Literary Festival and a trustee of the Michael Cuddigan Trust which gives grants to young composers.
Savannah Whaley
Digital Marketing
Savannah is an Assistant Director at Purple Moon Drama, a facilitator at Arcola Youth Theatre and an assistant tutor at Clean Break. She is on the Finborough Theatre’s Literary Team and is an arts critic for Londonist.
Theatre credits include: Cathy Come Home (Workshop Assistant – Cardboard Citizens at The Barbican), Much Ado About Nothing (Digital Marketing – Shakespeare in the Squares), Daddy’s Girl (Producer – Vault Festival).
Tom Latter
Assistant Director
Tom trained in Directing at Mountview Academy.
Theatre credits as director include: Wet Bread (Brighton Fringe), Speak Low if You Speak Love: Shakespeare’s Sonnets, An Elizabethan Christmas (Hampton Court Palace), Dirty Promises (Hope Theatre – nominated for Best Director, Off West End awards), The Comedy of Errors (The Space), The Stolen Inches (New Diorama), The Death of Norman Tortilla (Tristan Bates).
Tom has directed a number of short plays and readings at the Arcola, Rich Mix, Southwark Playhouse, Tristan Bates, Old Red Lion, and Theatre503.
Theatre credits as Assistant Director include: Powerplay by Sarah Dickenson, Encounters with the Past by Elizabeth Kuti (Hampton Court Palace), Valhalla by Paul Murphy (Theatre503), all directed by Jo McInnes, Our Ajax by Timberlake Wertenbaker, directed by David Mercatali (Southwark Playhouse).
Tom is the Artistic Director of Sheer Drop Theatre, Associate Director at Hampton Court Palace for 2017, and co-founder of Scaffold Shakespeare Company.
Charlie Littlewood
Assistant Stage Manager
Having played a part in Shakespeare in the Squares’ inaugural team, Charlie is excited to be back this year. While growing up in Oxford, he was a regular fixture in local theatre both on stage and behind the scenes. He has been involved in a wide range of productions, from a classical Greek performance of Euripides’ Medea, to Joe Orton’s Loot, to Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure. Drama has continued to be a strong thread in his academic life, both during his undergraduate studies at Cambridge, and also at Yale University in the USA, where he is currently a graduate student.
Emily Stuart
Designer
Emily trained at Wimbledon School of Art.
Costume design credits include: Robinson Crusoe and Robin Hood (The Theatre, Chipping Norton), The Fifth Column, Antigone, What the Women Did (Southwark Playhouse), Martine (The Finborough Theatre), The Living Room, Anyone Can Whistle, Bloody Poetry, Natural Affection (Jermyn Street Theatre), Shiverman (Theatre 503), Murder In The Cathedral (Oxford Playhouse), London Wall (Finborough Theatre and St James Theatre), Flock (Northern Stage), Lingua Franca (Finborough Theatre and E9E59 – New York), EX (Soho Theatre).
Film credits include: Drunk Butterflies (Rockhopper Productions), London Wall (Master Media). She has recently been working on film installations with The Postal Museum (opening 2017) and The SS Great Britain (opening 2018).
Emily has twice been the recipient of the Off West End award for best costume design: in 2011 for Anyone Can Whistle and again in 2016 for The Cutting of The Cloth. She was nominated in the same category in 2014 for Martine.
Stay tuned for further updates.
Summer 2024
Previous Years
Past Productions
Twelfth Night
2023
The Tempest
2022
A Midsummer Night's Dream
2019
As You Like It
2018
Romeo & Juliet
2017
Much Ado About Nothing
2016