Shakespeare's R and J at Long Beach Playhouse

Long Beach Playhouse brings this "vibrant, hot-blooded adaptation" (The New York Times) to the stage in a stirring new production. Shakespeare's R&J, Joe Calarco's provocative adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, places the dangerous and provocative tale in the hands of four young Catholic schoolboys in Egypt. As they discover the love, fury and violence in the forbidden text they're clandestinely reading, they become caught up in the story and real-life passions are revealed. Shakespeare's R&J rips away your preconceptions of Romeo and Juliet, and presents the classic in a modern and emotionally resonant new form. As Calarco says, "Just because Shakespeare understands the human condition, it doesn't mean it can't be a good time."