Theater News

New Theatrical Mash-Up Uncle Romeo Vanya Juliet Arrives Off-Broadway

Directed by Bedlam’s Eric Tucker, the play features two plays in one performance.

Director Eric Tucker will also star in his new mash-up alongside Zuzanna Szadkowski.
Director Eric Tucker will also star in his new mash-up alongside Zuzanna Szadkowski.
(photos provided by Polk & Co.)

Bedlam has announced the new production of Uncle Romeo Vanya Juliet. The new mash-up of Romeo and Juliet and Uncle Vanya will kick off Bedlam's 2018-19 season instead of runs of the two plays in repertory, as previously announced. The cast for Uncle Romeo Vanya Juliet will feature Edmund Lewis, Susannah Millonzi, Randolph Curtis Rand, Zuzanna Szadkowski, and Eric Tucker. The show will run September 14-October 28 at the A.R.T./New York Theatres. Opening night is September 25.

"As I began preparing to present the two plays in rep," says Tucker, who also directs the piece, "I saw an opportunity to display their strong thematic similarities in a new way. Both plays showcase characters experiencing longing for love at different times in their lives. In Uncle Vanya they are looking back saying how did I get here? In Romeo and Juliet they are looking forward saying how can I get there? By watching these epic classics side-by-side within the same sitting in Uncle Romeo Vanya Juliet, the audience can follow the doubling actors on a journey through a landscape where both worlds intersect revealing the characters varying experiences of love, loss and longing at various milestones in their lives."

Uncle Romeo Vanya Juliet pairs William Shakespeare's iconic tragedy of two star-crossed lovers with Anton Chekov's legendary play about a celebrated professor and his new wife's return to their family estate. With a new adaptation of Uncle Vanya by Kimberly Pau, interspersed with Romeo and Juliet's Shakespearean verse, Uncle Romeo Vanya Juliet will use five actors to weave together both stories, exploring how hidden passions can explode with the perspective of time.