Over a 12-week period, young people from B.yoU Project and Manchester Peer Support worked with an artist from Manchester’s Royal exchange theatre to develop their own unique performance piece. The result is “Romeo & Julian, Rosemary and Juliette, a dark comedy exploring same-sex relationships and the trials and tribulations that go along with them.

The story, as the title suggests, puts a modern spin on the classic “Romeo & Juliette” tale of forbidden love and feuding families, with an abundance of comic twists and touching sentiment. Focusing on the tale of Rosemary Capulet (Becky McGibbon) and her homophobic father’s disapproval of her relationship with Juliette (Jenny Lewis), “Romeo & Julian….” Intertwines these issues of homophobia, and lack of understanding with one young man’s coming to terms with his own sexuality and a moving, emotional finale in which the actors break character and open their hearts with tales of their own dealings with homophobia before finally finding the love and acceptance of their friends and families.

Lighting is used to great effect here; tragedy highlighted by darkness, romance highlighted by soft glows and joy highlighted by brightness, and this, combined with the intimacy of the surroundings and the actors’ willingness to open their hearts to the audience really bring this emotional, humorous, yet important home. The performance was greeted to a rapturous applause from a tearful audience, who enjoyed the show just as much as the actors involved. “I did drama at school and it felt very isolating when we didn’t look at gay issues.  Now I’m doing a whole play, it’s been fantastic, liberating and I love my dress!” enthused Jenny Lewis.

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