The historic Victoria Baths to be filled with 86,000 gallons of water for a performance of Romeo and Juliet this September.

Shakespeare’s play of tragic love will be a follow up to the critically acclaimed sold-out production of Angel Meadow earlier this summer by Manchester’s Home and will be an Eastern European-inspired production with an original score that promises to take audiences into a mysterious criminal underworld.

The production, part-promenade and part-seated, and directed by Walter Meierjohann, HOME’s Artistic Director, takes place at three locations in the baths, allowing the audience to get very close to the action.

This will give audience members a chance to experience the haunting design by acclaimed designer Ti Green, whose work on Orlando at the Royal Exchange Theatre this year drew much admiration.

Romeo will be played by Alex Felton, who comes to Manchester fresh from playing Lysander in the Barbican’s world tour of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, while Sara Vickers, who last appeared in the city in the Royal Exchange Theatre’s production of Ibsen’s The Lady from the Sea, and was recently seen as Joan Thursday in ITV’s top-rated Inspector Morse spin-off Endeavour, takes on the role of Juliet.

The common thread we’re interrogating in our site-specific programme is the idea of belonging,” says Meierjohann, “and our take on Romeo & Juliet is a contemporary fairytale, set in a menacing and violent criminal underworld of Eastern Europe. Romeo & Juliet is a story of love, hatred, and revenge, and we could not have a more evocative and atmospheric setting than the stunning Victoria Baths.”

Romeo & Juliet will be complemented by a Balkan-style score specially written for the production by Macedonian composer Nikola Kodjabashia, performed live by actor-musicians.

In addition to the 13-strong professional cast, each performance features a group of drama undergraduates from Manchester Metropolitan University who will form the Chorus Ensemble.

Victoria Baths opened in 1906 and closed as a public baths in 1993. Since then, the Friends of Victoria Baths and the Victoria Baths Trust have campaigned to save the building and to re-open the Turkish Baths and at least one of the pools. The building, which is grade I listed, was the winner of the BBC’s Restoration programme in 2003. It is now partially restored and operates as a heritage visitor attraction and arts venue.

Romeo & Juliet runs Wednesday 10 September – Saturday 4 October 2014. Full performance time details and more information available at http://homemcr.org/romeo-and-juliet
Twitter: #RomeoAndJuliet

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