Romeo & Juliet at Hybernia Theatre

Hybernia is a modern theatre; there are good views of the stage from all seating areas and fine acoustics.

There is no live orchestra, however the pre-recorded music is exceptional, providing high quality sound throughout the performance.

16 dancers take part in the production, which features soloists from the Prague State Opera and National Theatre.

Capulet presents his daughter and the revellers exclaim at her beauty. Juliet is enthralled with the atmosphere of the occasion and waltzes around the room, singing of the freedom of youth.

Romeo, a Montague, is at the ball with his good friend Mercutio, and from a distance he notices Juliet. He approaches her and they experience a profound attraction. Tybalt sees this. Enraged he identifies the intruder as Montague’s son to Capulet. But Capulet restrains him and orders the party to continue.

Romeo and Juliet kiss, not even knowing each other’s names. But when Romeo later finds out from Juliet’s nurse that she is the daughter of Capulet, he becomes distraught. When Juliet learns that the young man she has just kissed is the son of Montague, she grows equally upset.

After the ball Romeo sneaks into the Capulet's garden and sings under Juliet's balcony, confessing his feelings for her. He then steps out from the darkness and opens his heart. And although he is aware of the danger of the situation, he finds is difficult to break away from Juliet.

Act II
Romeo hurries to see his friend Friar Lawrence, who agrees to marry the young lovers. The following day, Romeo and Juliet meet at Friar Lawrence’s cell and are married. The Nurse, who is privy to the secret, procures a ladder, which Romeo will use to climb into Juliet’s window for their wedding night. But that afternoon fighting breaks out once more between the families, and Mercutio is killed by Tybalt Capulet. Romeo, reluctant until this point to get involved, now feels obliged to avenge the death of his dear friend Mercutio, and kills Tybalt in a duel.

Romeo fears that Juliet will not want to see him any more as he has killed her cousin and plunged their families into an even greater war. But he need not have worried, as they enjoy a mutual embrace and spend the night together.

Juliet pretends to mourn for Tybalt, but is in fact crying for her beloved Romeo, who is now in exile. To make matters worse, Juliet's mother decides to marry her daughter to the young nobleman, Paris. Juliet protests, but her mother will have none of it (not knowing that Juliet is already married). Juliet hurries to Friar Lawrence, and they concoct a plan: the night before her wedding to Paris, Juliet must drink a potion that will make her appear to be dead. After she is laid to rest in the family’s crypt, the Friar and Romeo will secretly retrieve her, and she will be free to live with Romeo, away from their parents’ feuding.

Unfortunately, Romeo does not hear from the Friar, instead he hears only of Juliet’s death, and decides to kill himself rather than live without her. He buys a vial of poison, returns to visit the Capulet family tomb, and when he sees Juliet’s inanimate body, drinks the poison, and dies by her side. Juliet wakes, sees her beloved Romeo, and realises he has killed himself with poison. She kisses his poisoned lips, and when that does not kill her, buries his dagger in her chest, falling dead upon his body.

The Capulets and Montagues arrive. Seeing their children’s bodies, they agree to end their long-standing feud and to raise gold statues of their children side-by-side in a newly peaceful Verona.