Romeo and Juliet
Clockwise from top:
Victoria Duarri – Juliet / Benvolio / Apothecary
David Acton – Friar Lawrence / Lady Capulet / Tybalt/ Montague
Francesca Ryan – Nurse / Prince / Paris / Sampson / Friar John / Old Capulet
Peter Dunn – Mercutio / Capulet / Balthasar / Abraham
Chuk Iwuji – Romeo / Lady Montague / Gregory
Synopsis
Set in the city of Verona, the play opens with an argument and a brawl between the servants of the feuding noble families of Capulet and Montague. The Prince, ruler of Verona, stops the fight and decrees that whoever disturbs the peace again shall be sentenced to death. Montague's son, Romeo, and his cousin, Benvolio, talk about Romeo's love for Rosaline.
Meanwhile, at the Capulet home, Paris, a kinsman of the prince, seeks Juliet's hand in marriage. Capulet dispatches a servant with a list of people to invite to a masquerade and feast that he holds every year. He invites Paris to the feast, hoping that Paris will begin to win Juliet's heart. Juliet talks with her mother, Lady Capulet, and with her Nurse about the possibility of marrying Paris. Juliet has not yet considered marriage, but agrees to talk with Paris during the feast to see if she will accept him as her husband.
Romeo and Benvolio encounter the Capulet servant bearing the list of invitations to the masquerade ball and, since Rosaline will be there, they decide to attend the feast with their friend Mercutio. Once inside the Capulet residence, Romeo sees Juliet from a distance and instantly falls in love with her. Soon, Romeo speaks to Juliet, and she, too, falls in love with him. They kiss, not even knowing each other's names. When the two find out that they are from opposite sides of the city's largest feud, they are both distraught. Romeo and Juliet are married the next day by Friar Lawrence, who agrees to marry the young lovers in secret, hoping that their marriage will end the feud between Capulet and Montague.
The next day, Romeo kills Juliet's cousin, Tybalt, in fury after Tybalt has killed Mercutio. The Prince declares that Romeo will be b anished to the city of Mantua for his crime. Friar Lawrence arranges for Romeo to spend his wedding night with Juliet before he has to leave for Mantua the following morning. Capulet pushes ahead with the plan to marry Juliet to Paris. The Friar concocts a plan to reunite Juliet with Romeo in Mantua. The night before her wedding, Juliet must drink a potion that will make her appear to be dead. After she is laid to rest in the family's tomb, the Friar and Romeo will secretly retrieve her, and she will be free to live with Romeo, away from their parents' feuding.
That night, Juliet drinks the potion. The Nurse discovers her, apparently dead, the next morning. Juliet is entombed in the Capulets' family tomb according to plan; however, the message to Romeo explaining the plan never reaches him, and Romeo hears only that Juliet is dead. Rather than live without his true love, Romeo buys a vial of poison and returns to Verona to kill himself at Juliet's tomb. He finds Paris mourning at the tomb and kills him in a fight. Standing by Juliet's body, Romeo drinks the poison, and when Juliet awakens moments later, she sees the body of her beloved Romeo and stabs herself with his dagger. After seeing their children's bodies, Capulet and Montague agree to end their long-standing feud and to raise gold statues in honor of their children in the town square.
David Acton's Shakespearean roles include the title role in Hamlet at the Oxford Playhouse, Adriana in The Comedy of Errors and Olivia in Twelfth Night at the Newbury Watermill Theatre, and Friar Lawrence in Romeo and Juliet at the Chester Gateway. His work with the Royal Shakespeare Company includes Aegeon in The Comedy of Errors , the King of France in Henry V, Cornwall in King Lear , Rosencrantz in Hamlet , Salisbury in Edward III , and Vizard in George Farquhar's The Constant Couple . He has also performed in The Clandestine Marriage ,All My Sons , and Breaking the Code and was assistant director of a production of Richard III at the Tokyo Globe. Last year, at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, he performed in The Hinge of the World , a new play by the U.S. writer Richard N. Goodwin. His television credits include EastEnders ,Casualty, Persuasion, The Wyvern Mystery, Macbeth, The Bill ,All in the Game and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) . His radio experience includes Manikudlak and the Bear ,Into Exile and Strangers and Brothers . This is David's second tour with Actors From The London Stage, following his spring 1998 AFTLS tour of A Midsummer Night's Dream in which he played the roles of Puck, Theseus, and Snout.
Victoria Duarri trained at Mountview Theatre School where she was awarded a Laurence Olivier bursary. Her theatre experience includes seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company in London, Stratford-upon-Avon, and on national and international tours with King John (playing Lady Blanche and understudying Constance), Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew, The Seagull and Madness in Valencia . Co-producing the 2001 Royal Shakespeare Company Fringe Festival, she appeared as Catherine in Memory of Water , which she brought to the Latchmere Theatre in London. Her other theatre credits include Pirandello's Stone Goddess in London, The Country Wife for the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, the new play Polar Bears at the Soho Theatre in London, and Mamet's Speed the Plow for the Spit on Me Theatre Company. Her radio and television credits include her roles in Family Affairs ,Dalziel and Pascoe ,The Ruth Rendell Mysteries and the BBC Radio 4 play Learning the Language . Victoria is a co-founder of Touchstone Theatre, taking Shakespeare and drama workshops to able and learning disabled children and young people throughout the UK. This is her first tour with Actors From The London Stage.
Chuk Iwuji was born in Nigeria and has earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics at Yale University, as well as a Master of Fine Arts in Acting. During his two seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company, he appeared in the role of Fenton in The Merry Wives of Windsor, as Tullus Aufidius in Coriolanus , and as the Soothsayer in Julius Caesar . His other Shakespearean credits include Edmund in King Lear , Cornelius in Hamlet , Othello in Othello , Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing , and Florizel in The Winter's Tale . He has also performed the title role in Tartuffe and played the role of Hippolytus in Phedre with the American Players Theatre. Chuk has also acted in Moll Flanders ,Our Town , and Hot Wind From the South . Chuk has been trained as a classical pianist and has experience in martial arts, modern dance, and juggling. This is his first tour with Actors From The London Stage.
Peter Lindford studied English & European Studies at Sussex University and trained at the Drama Studio, London. His Shakespearean roles include the following: Leontes & Autolycus in The Winter's Tale ; the title-role in Macbeth ; Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew ; Theseus in A Midsummer Night'sDream (Royal Shakespeare Company); the Duke in Measure for Measure ; Sebastian in Twelfth Night (Peter Hall Company); Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Laertes in Hamlet (Royal National Theatre). He has also performed in She Stoops To Conquer, Jane Eyre, Sir Martin Mar-All, Lady Windermere's Fan, The Country Wife, The Norman Conquests (directed by Alan Ayckbourn), Miss Julie, Dr Faustus, and played Mephistopheles in Goethe's Faust at the Lyric, Hammersmith (for which he received the DRAMA Award for Best Supporting Actor). Histelevision appearances include Footballers' Wives, Doctors, Without Motive, Real Women, The Bill, Julie & the Cadillacs, Soldier Soldier and Grange Hill . His radio appearances include Joking Apart ,Brummel Abroad and The Lady of the Camellias . This is Peter's third tour with Actors From The London Stage. In 1996 he played Claudio, Borachio and Margaret in Much Ado About Nothing , and in 1998 he played Oberon, Lysander and Flute in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Francesca Ryan has been a professional actress for over twenty years. For the English Shakespeare Company at the Old Vic and abroad, she played the role of Queen Isabel in Richard II , Doll Tearsheet in Henry IV , Princess Katherine in Henry V , Joan la Pucelle in Henry VI , Lady Anne in Richard III , and, for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Portia in Julius Caesar . Other Shakespearean roles include Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream , Ophelia in Hamlet , and Hermione in The Winter's Tale . For the National Theatre, she played Margaret in Arthur Miller's Broken Glass and Kristine in Shared Experience's award-winning A Doll's House . Her recent leading roles include Maggie in Dancing at Lughnasa , the title role in Shaw's Candida , the Marquise de Merteuil in Les Liaisons Dangereuses , Beatrice in A View from the Bridge , and M'Lynn in Steel Magnolias . She also has a strong interest in comedy improvisation, having performed with Comedy Express and The Improfessionals. Her best known TV appearances include Dr Claire in Medics , Miranda Peters in Coronation Street , and most recently, Katherine Reid in Waking The Dead . Francesca is currently completing an MA in Theatre Studies. This is her first tour with Actors From The London Stage.