Romeo and Hamed

“Tonight, a story, a myth, a testament

That tells of love, sorrow and loves descent

A tale that tells of two lovers hearts

Written in stars, ancient heavenly charts.”

Romeo and Hamed is a bold, provocative queer reimagining of Shakespeare’s tragedy from debut writer Scott Horgan.

Romeo moves through a world that never softens. Croydon’s concrete glare presses in from every side, until Hamed cuts through it. Their connection is immediate and dangerously alive, burning through expectation, faith, and the weight of family loyalty. Yet tragedy, as always, feels inescapable for our young lovers.

This is a story of pain and pleasure, desire and violence, love as something that leaves a mark. Raves become arenas of chaos and release, a rooftop in Croydon becomes a place of worship, and emotions swing without warning from euphoria to devastation.

Told in relentless, lyrical verse, Romeo & Hamed is urgent, feral, sexy and unafraid to ask difficult questions. It plays freely in Shakespeare’s sandpit, leaning into huge emotional swings, high drama, and catastrophic tenderness. It’s a story for right now that surges with energy and a pounding soundtrack, unlike anything currently on London stages.

This new play explores family devotion, identity, religion and belonging, asking if we have the courage to love freely in a world that often refuses it.

All performances of Romeo and Hamed will be Creatively Captioned.

“HIGHLY COMMENDED” - National Theatre Script department.

PRAISE FOR DIRECTOR, MADDY CORNER:

“Enthralling… fascinating analysis of the human condition” - Guardian ★★★★

Corner bring[s] an inventiveness to the staging of each play that keeps everything visually interesting and distinctive” - The Stage

“Superbly directed by Maddy Corner, this is a play that pulls you into another world and continuously wrong-foots expectations and it will haunt me for days” - Ithankyou

CREATIVE TEAM:

A Sinew Productions x Slime and Pies co-production
 

Writer - Scott Horgan

Director - Maddy Corner

Set, Lighting and Caption Designer - Hugo Dodsworth

Assistant Director and Creative Consultant - Bilal Sha Jihan

Sound Designer - Pouya Ehsaei

Movement Director - Theophilus O. Bailey

Intimacy Coordinator - Raniah Al-Sayed

Janis Price - Vocal Coach

Stage Management - Joni Falconer and Ibraheem Hamirani

Mental Health and Wellbeing Practitioner - Suzanna Storey

Script Consultants - Mohammed Barber and Huda Dualeh

Dramaturgs - Dinarte Gouveia, Maddy Corner and Bilal Sha Jihan

Casting Director - Hannah Ashby Ward (Lane Casting)

Casting Associates - Priyanka Patel and Steph Coles (Lane Casting)

Producer - Eleanor Roberts

Consultant Producer - Mina Moniri

With special thanks to our queer-Muslim focus group.