Reimagined for the Australian stage, award-winning Welsh playwright Gary Owen’s naturalistic drama delivers a gritty, contemporary twist on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

This adaptation trades Verona’s grandeur for the everyday reality of Cardiff, with its dingy lounge rooms, £1 DVDs and soiled nappies. While the setting may be humble, the play maintains the gravitas of love and loss, while managing to shift the thematic focus to the complexities of class.

Presented at Red Stitch in St Kilda, this working-class ballad unfolds over two acts, running for 2 hours and 40 minutes with a 20-minute intermission. Sophie Woodward’s versatile set efficiently transitions between beachside and family homes, while Spencer Herd’s kaleidoscopic projections envelop the stage in a shared, intimate world for the star-crossed lovers.

Damon Baudin and Shontane Farmer in Romeo & Julie. Photo © Jodie Hutchinson

Central to the story are Romeo, or ‘Romy’ (Damon Baudin), an 18-year-old father grappling with an alcoholic mother, and Julie (Shontane Farmer), who, despite being slightly better off, lives just a street away. Julie, weighed down by familial and community expectations, dreams of becoming the next Stephen Hawking at Cambridge University.

The play opens with a tense...