Classic love story goes back to the 80s

A RETELLING of Romeo and Juliet will play its last of three shows at The Capital tonight, Friday 23 June.

A Girton Grammar School production, producer Jacinta Jackson said the cast and crew decided to put an 80s spin on Shakespeare’s classic.

Jackson said the group believed it would be more exciting to do, and for the audience, than a classical performance of the 14th-century version, and would allow for fun with music and costumes.

“It’s a reinvention of a really old story that I think young people will really enjoy and it’s about teenage love and about doing the wrong thing, falling in love with someone they shouldn’t,” said Jackson.

“The Las Vegas setting is symbolic of gambling, games, and taking risks, and we think of it as the Montagues and the Capulets being almost like the two powerful families of the town who have a grudge against each other.

“The fact that they stick to their grudge and risk ultimately the lives of their two children is like they gambled with their children is sort of the motif that we’re using here.

“It’s allowed us to have a soundtrack of Tainted Love, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, and [When] Doves Cry from the Baz Luhrmann film. It’s got 80s music basically. Even this generation of kids, they love 80s music.”

Jackson said while Girton puts on a show every year, this time the cast had an opportunity to rehearse at the Bendigo Theatre Company’s shed and that meant they were able to familiarise themselves with the staging.

“Once the set was built at Bendigo Theatre Company, we were bussing the cast there so that they could get the benefit of rehearsing on this set,” she said.

“That was the beauty of that, so that when they came into the theatre today, it’s not like the first time they’re seeing the set.”

The set took five weeks to make and construction included help from people at Bendigo Theatre Company and parents of the cast members.

“It’s hours of volunteer time, we couldn’t pay for that, so we’re very lucky in that regard,” said Jackson.

Girton Grammer’s production of Romeo and Juliet concludes tonight, Friday 23 June at the Capital. Tickets are $38 for adults, $28 concession and there’s also a family deal.

For more information and to book visit bit.ly/3CCATMl.