World Premiere of Rosaline

Rosaline is a dark tale of juicy revenge and teenage obsession, based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. An echo of Shakespeare's great tragedy, this contemporary play is composed of a series of fictional 'missing' scenes, exposing the role that Rosaline, Romeo's first love, may have had in the story we know so well.

Award-winning Australian playwright Joanna Erskine's Rosaline will premiere at the Kings Cross Theatre in October. In development since 2007, this new work explores the story that has defined our popular romantic consciousness about love. Erskine has thrust Shakespeare's greatest love story into a bold new light, allowing us to view it and the characters we are so familiar with from the perspective of the young woman scorned.

Rosaline is a powerful four-hander, where classically high stakes clash with modern teenage lust. Set in a small town where chastity is highly prized, religion is tainted and surveillance is rife, three teenagers are burgeoning on adulthood. It is a dangerous world, lacking in adult figures, except one – the local Friar. The audience follow Rosaline and her manipulation of three men, and their manipulation of her, towards her ultimate goal – love or vengeance.

Erskine says "Too often women's narratives are controlled by men. This is a story about a young woman taking back control of her own narrative. About giving a voiceless woman a voice. Rosaline is the centre of Romeo's world in Shakespeare's original, then is instantly forgotten. I have always refused to believe that she simply disappeared."

Directed by award-winning director, actor and teaching artist Sophie Kelly, and starring a powerhouse cast of performers including Aanisa Vylet (SAUVAGE, The Girl/The Woman, Postcards From The Wire) in the titular role, Alex Beauman (All My Sleep and Waking, You Got Older, The Whale) as Romeo, Jeremi Campese (Yen, DNA, Bell Shakespeare Players) as Peter and David Lynch (A View From the Bridge, Trevor, AIR) as Friar.

Venue: Kings Cross Theatre, Kings Cross Hotel, Kings Cross
Season: 11 – 26 October
Opening Night: Wednesday 16 October
Times: Tues - Sat 7.30 pm, Sunday 5pm
Price: $42 Adult, $35 Concession, $20 Previews
Bookings: www.kingsxtheatre.com/rosaline