UK Theatre under fire for Nazi-era themed "Romeo & Juliet"

by Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder

A theatre in the United Kingdom is facing intense criticism after announcing its plans to stage William Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet” which will be set in 1930s Germany with Romeo as a member of the Hitler Youth and Juliet as a Jewish girl. To add to the controversy, the audition notice made no mention of wanting Jewish performers exclusively for the Jewish roles.

The Icarus Theatre Collective made the announcement of the 2023 production. Within hours, social media reacted to the news as well as their poorly worded audition notice.

We are glad to hear it.

We still struggle to think how this could be anything but tasteless.

It is staggering that anyone would find this play about morally-equivalent feuding families to be an appropriate way to explore Nuremberg-era persecution of Jews by Nazi Germany. https://t.co/wRM7IKWSPP

— Campaign Against Antisemitism (@antisemitism) October 31, 2022

The director has since apologized but still defended the production.

The theatre released the following statement:

“We apologise and are deeply sorry for the offence we caused. Our Romeo & Juliet is a criticism of Nazi fascism (and its particular relevance today) made in consultation with the Jewish community, including the director. Our casting director removed key information and we failed to notice.

These are NOT two households both alike in dignity. In particular, we have cut the opening speech & made many other cuts which radically alter the balance of power. Part of our R&D process has always been to include members of the Jewish community to test presentations, as we recognise that the director’s background is not sufficient to ensure proper presentation of this dangerous concept. Our intention is to portray Montagues as the bad guys & kids brainwashed as per Jojo Rabbit. Particularly as a criticism of the current political situation.

Our initial casting breakdown mentioned performers of Jewish background are preferred for the Capulets, as it is fundamental to have representation on the team more than just the director. Please accept our profound apologies.”

Given the many changes to the script the theatre would have to do to fit this odd choice for a narrative, it makes me wonder, why do this at all?

If the aim was to show the evils and atrocities of the Nazi party as well as the dangers of antisemitism, there are plenty of other works, including Shakesepare’s, a theatre could do. This makes little sense to me.

In a time where stories like this need to be handled with care, lazy and crude takes like this, don’t help anything.