Rome and Jewels

Director Rennie Harris takes the timeless story of Romeo and Juliet and places it in the context of contemporary urban gang culture. The tragedy is played out in the kinetic dance of the city streets, set to a pulsing musical score and a brilliant blending of Elizabethan verse and rap. Subtitled “a hip-hop opera,” Rome and Jewels is concerned with love expressed through violence and uses Shakespeare’s story to take a look at urban youth at the turn of the millennium. This production is a feature of the 2000 International Festival of Arts & Ideas.