Coliseum takes to the great outdoors!

“Star-Cross’d” director Kevin Shaw (left) and writer Ian Kershaw at the setting of the play in Alexandra Park.

A theatre duo is preparing for a show with a difference: Oldham Coliseum’s first-ever open-air production.

Kevin Shaw, artistic director of the Oldham Coliseum, has enlisted the help of Oldham writer Ian Kershaw to create “Star-Cross’d”, a unique version of Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet”.

As well as taking to the great outdoors — in this case Alexandra Park — the pair have ensured the play features other Oldham-esque twists including brass bands and dance troupes.

Instead of Romeo, the play introduces Robbie O, a tracksuit-wearing Oldham lad; instead of Juliet we meet Judy, a beautiful Bengali student from Oldham College.

The characters come from different backgrounds, so when the star-crossed pair meet andfall in love, they faced conflict on all sides.

The play will be performed “promenade” style — the audience will walk to different settings within the park alongside the performers.

Scriptwriter Ian, who previously wrote “Union Street” for the Coliseum jumped at the chance to be involved again.

“Kevin asked if I would be interested in helping with a play based in Alexandra Park, so straight away we started discussing ideas and realised we could put something on that would demonstrate some of Oldham’s complexities.

“Having said that, we have made it really good fun. There are lots of jokes and it’s quite exciting!”

Kevin, who is directing the show, said: “The original story of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is still in there, but we are adding various twists and turns and changing the details of the characters.

“But we’re also performing outside, which makes it very different. The park is so beautiful and we’re going to show it off from all levels and locations.”

But he accepted that an outdoor show, in Oldham, in the wettest summer on record, might cause a problem or two...

“The nature of open-air performances is that it will rain at some point, we can’t help that, but we’ll work around it.

“But we’ll only stop if it becomes too dangerous. It’s amazing what an audience will put up with once they’re outside!”

Performances start on Thursday at 7.30pm, until Sunday, July 22, with weekend matinee performances. Under-26s can buy tickets for £5, with other tickets priced up to £18.50.

Contact the Coliseum box office on 0161-624 2829, or visit www.coliseum. org.uk for tickets.

And go prepared for the weather - and with something to sit on.





Follow us on Twitter - @OldhamChronicle