Lost Dog, Juliet and Romeo, Battersea Arts Centre

The award-winning dance theatre company Lost Dog invites us to embark on a humorous and heartfelt investigation into love, loss and longevity with its latest offering, Juliet and Romeo.

Artistic director Ben Duke has reconceived the tragic teenage love story that we all know so well to create a version where Romeo and Juliet somehow survive into middle age.

Performed by Duke and Solène Weinachter, Juliet and Romeo portrays the star-crossed lovers as they might be if they were 40-ish, and living together in the 21st century. Their story is told through a combination of dance, comedy, contemporary text and theatre.

Duke’s comedic interpretation reveals how Juliet and Romeo would struggle under the stresses and strains of supposedly being the world’s most romantic couple. In so doing, he explores contemporary culture’s celebration of youth and how it creates unrealistic expectations around love, sex and relationships.

Ultimately, Juliet and Romeo questions what is necessary for a long life and a happy marriage.

Adopting his usual wacky and witty approach to dance-theatre, Duke ruminates on the habits and compromises that inevitably creep in after the honeymoon period.

Lost Dog, which was formed by Duke and Raquel Meseguer in 2004, creates work using text, movement and music in which dance is framed by stories and characters. And, really, what better characters to use to consider the realities of romance and honesty in relationships than Juliet and her Romeo?

Go and see this production if you quite like the sound of a duet that turns the Bard’s pessimistic teenage love story upside down and inside out!

NOTE: Juliet and Romeo is opening with a three week London run, split between Battersea Arts Centre and The Place. Juliet and Romeo visits Battersea Arts Centre 14 – 24 February, followed by a week at The Place (Tuesday 27 February – Saturday 3 March).