Jamie Hale and CRIPtic Arts: Romeo and Juliet

Juliet is bored. She is under the care of parents who believe there is no life for her, a disabled woman who uses a ventilator to breathe, outside the walls of their home. Under their ‘protection’ Juliet feels her life slipping away. To her, that is a tragedy. With her future managed by others, will she ever experience love, adulthood or freedom?

Then she meets Romeo, disabled, confident and independent. In a society which controls them, their relationship becomes a joyful act of rebellion. No longer a distant dream, love is present, immediate, urgent, risky and above all alive. But how does this tragic love story change when our star-crossed lovers know they’re here for a good time, not a long time?

Exploring breath through Shakespeare’s abridged language, this vital production furthers CRIPtic’s award-winning work in disabled-led theatre.








Presented by the Barbican.

This show is supported by the Wellcome Trust [226472/Z/22/Z] and is part of the Cripping Breath research project, led by Sheffield University.