Gasp, Romeo's Juliet is a boy?!

Arief (right), who plays Player One and Romeo, says Shakespeare’s R&J is essentially about “youthful discovery”. Photos: The Star/Ridzuan Rashid

Veteran Australian director Jeff Kevin first watched the play Shakespeare’s R&J back in 1997 at a tiny theatre in lower Manhattan in New York. The grand themes explored in the play, based on the Bard’s original love story (Romeo And Juliet). were just too powerful to ignore.

Written by American playwright Joe Calarco, the thought-provoking Shakespeare’s R&J explores the alluring appeal of tasting the forbidden fruit.