Star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet will thrill the audience at the Hawthorne Theatre in Welwyn Garden City

SHAKESPEARE classic Romeo and Juliet can be seen on stage in Welwyn Garden City this week.

“TWO households, both alike in dignity,

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,

From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.”

IT’S one of the greatest love stories of all time. One which everyone thinks they know. But Romeo and Juliet can still surprise.

Taking their cue from the line in the play “Violent delights have violent ends”, the highly-acclaimed Icarus Theatre Collective present a bold and exciting new production of Shakespeare’s most tragic tale.

In defiance of their families and in secrecy from their closest friends, hopeful young lives burn amidst a celestial and cataclysmic backdrop.

Sun and moon shine down on star-crossed lovers as they hide their passion and sexuality from their warring families and their closest friends.

Misadventure, family pride, and ancient quarrels bury the most joyous of beginnings, the most hopeful of love stories as Romeo and Juliet, driven apart, find their world becoming a constricting, single mausoleum of fate and death.

Icarus Theatre Collective were last at Campus West in Welwyn Garden City in May with a ground-breaking production of Macbeth.

And if you saw that show you’ll know they have a knack for bringing Shakespeare’s words to life, making the language sing yet sound totally natural. So if you want to see Shakespeare in a new light, you won’t want to miss this production.

Romeo and Juliet plays at the Hawthorne Theatre on Monday, January 21. The performance starts at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £16.50 adults and £13.50 concessions.