Liverpool’s award-winning Rubbish Shakespeare Company is returning to Southport this autumn with its sell-out production of Romeo & Juliet.
Fresh from winning Best Kids Show at the Leicester Comedy Festival, the company will bring its chaotic take on Shakespeare’s famous tragedy to The Atkinson on Saturday, September 26, 2026.
The production has continued to evolve since it was first staged in 2018 and has enjoyed a number of critically acclaimed runs at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
It has also been performed in London’s West End at Leicester Square Theatre, while earlier this month the company twice filled a 474-seat Big Top theatre tent at Beautiful Days Festival.
The Southport performance will see three performers attempt to tell the story of Romeo & Juliet using little more than tatty wigs, a frayed floral dress and a burst airbed apparently rescued from beside the bins.
The result is a 60-minute, fast-paced and fourth-wall-breaking version of the tragedy designed to introduce Shakespeare to family audiences through comedy, audience interaction and deliberately low-budget props.
Lee Hithersay, who plays Juliet (amongst others), said:
“It’s meant to be romantic, but the audience just laughs. There are tantrums, there’s an airbed, and Juliet’s supposed to fall in love with Romeo, but honestly—have you seen him? Absolute state. I’m just trying to survive this rubbish.”
Founded in Liverpool in 2010, the Rubbish Shakespeare Company has developed a national reputation for producing accessible family theatre.
As well as its Shakespeare productions, the company toured original interactive show The Story Forge: Make Your Own Myth during 2025, visiting 51 venues across 80 performances.
The company also makes a feature of sourcing its sets and props from charity shops, skips and the cast’s own homes, with the aim of encouraging children to recreate stories and Shakespearean scenes using everyday objects.
Rubbish Shakespeare: Romeo & Juliet takes place at The Atkinson in Southport on Saturday, September 26, 2026.
You can book your tickets here.
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