Romeo Must Die at Theatre Peckham - Interview

Set in Manchester, 2007, Romeo Must Die follows six black teens navigating highs and lows of secondary school life. Loyalty begins to stand the test of time in a tight-knit friendship built on shared struggle, the secrets simmer beneath the surface. When tensions build the teens land at a party where the rivalry of schools and postcodes becomes the topic. The friends are faced with the dilemma of their lives. Friendships are tested, allegiances shift, and the question of loyalty within the community is thrown into focus.  

Whether it’s young love, racial politics, or convoluted dynamics, ultimately, Romeo Must Die. 
Ahead of performances at Theatre Peckham we chatted to Gloria Akpoke (writer and director), Atlanta Sonson-Chapman (Technical Designer), and cast members Christie Fewry (Rose) and George Wood (Romeo).

Why was 2007 Manchester the right “Verona” for this story, and how does the title Romeo Must Die reframe the audience’s expectations of the Shakespearean tragedy?

Gloria Akpoke: Verona, to me, is a nostalgic place, somewhere with a warmth that resembles home, but with an underlying tension that something isn’t quite right. The harder you fight to belong, the more it can consume you. That’s what Manchester felt like for me growing up.

The early 2000s felt like the right setting because there was a lot of racial tension in Britain, alongside postcode wars, people desperate to claim land that was never really theirs.

I think the title reframes the audience’s expectations because it tells you this isn’t just a love story. It’s not only about romance; it’s about the symbolism of death within Romeo and Juliet. The death of innocence, love, and possibility, not just for the protagonists, but for every character in the play.

You’ve captured a specific era of Black British youth culture. What were the must-have cultural touchstones you insisted on including to make this world feel authentic?

Gloria Akpoke: One of the must-haves was definitely the slang. As a Mancunian, I sounded so different in school, and it made me think about how the way you wear your voice reflects not only the society around you, but the era too.

There was a time where repping your city or your school felt like a badge of honour, not in honour of the institution itself, but in honour of your community and the competition between the communities around you. There was identity in that discourse.

So the Mancunian accents and slang were essential for me.

The story centres on a dilemma at a party. How do you balance the highs of teenage friendship with the lows of systemic issues like racial politics and territorial rivalries?

Gloria Akpoke: I believe they all collide. In today’s society, we’re hit with so many themes of life all at once, and they all affect each other.

How we show up as friends is shaped by how we see ourselves as individuals, and how we see ourselves is unfortunately influenced, and sometimes reshaped, by the world’s opinions on our looks, speech, background, and identity.

How does your Rose, and the other young women in the story, exert agency in a world dominated by postcode rivalries?

Gloria Akpoke: I wouldn’t say the story is dominated by postcode rivalries. It’s more of a subgenre within the play that allows us to question what community is really defined by.

I also don’t think all the girls in the story need to “exert agency” in the traditional sense. For most of them, it’s about existing within this space and time, while witnessing the male figures and friends in their lives conceal and normalise their own experiences.

I would say Princess exerts agency because she wears the story personally. She isn’t a victim of postcode rivalries alone, she’s a victim of what happens when a community fails to hold all of itself.

Why do you feel like 2026 is the right time for this story?

Gloria Akpoke: I think 2026 is the right time for this story because of the current social and political climate. There’s war, racial tension, and people are hyper-aware of what their physical bodies represent to others before they even get the chance to simply be themselves. Conclusions are made before conversations are had.

I think Romeo Must Die reminds a lot of us, especially those who grew up during the rise of social media, of the moment things started to change during our teenage years. And how tragic it is when the world strips away your innocence and, with it, your sense of possibility for the future.

Gloria Akpoke

How do you balance the roles of being both the writer and the director?

Gloria Akpoke: My writing process began a long time ago, and I have to separate the two roles because the processes are very different.

As a writer, I begin with an idea. Then I have to conceptualise it, find its “why” and understand what it’s trying to say. After that comes the hardest part, executing it on paper.

Once I fully understand what I’m trying to say and how I’m trying to say it, that’s when my director brain takes over. At that point, it’s not just about the artistic vision, but why we’re approaching it in a certain way.

Director Gloria wins over Writer Gloria every time. All my actors know I’m not precious about my writing. I see the script as the roots of the tree, it anchors the story, but it’s not the thing that’s meant to blossom.

As a director, having a deep understanding of the text means my job is to serve the larger story and message. If this were a book, my role wouldn’t matter in the same way, but this is theatre. It’s performance. It’s about artistic direction evoking something. It’s no longer just words; it’s action, lighting, set design, movement, sound, all these elements working together to create feeling.

When you hear the actors speak your lines in a Manchester accent, does it change how you perceive the rhythm of the play? Have the actors influenced the script’s evolution?

Gloria Akpoke: Absolutely, the actors have influenced the evolution of the script. I give my actors autonomy because I want them not only to find the character within themselves, but to find themselves within the character too.

Human beings are actually very similar, we all live versions of the same emotional lives, but within that similarity, we still have individuality. These characters are meant to reflect the people and relationships around us, so the actors naturally bring new layers and truths to the script that help it evolve.

2007 has a very distinct aesthetic. How did you use lighting and set design to evoke that specific pre-digital, bricks and mortar Manchester feel?
Atlanta Sonson-Chapman: As the Technical Designer, that’s more rooted in the set design, but what I’m doing is supporting that through lighting by reflecting different times of day, especially as we return to the same locations. The park is a good example, it gets darker each time we go back there, so you feel that shift emotionally as well as visually. There’s also a moment set in a thunderstorm, where I’m exploring how shadows and minimal lighting can really complement the set and atmosphere.

The set team have approached this really beautifully. As Bud Potter explains: “I think maximalist texture and strong saturation is the legacy of the y2k era. Those things are difficult to incorporate to fringe theatre, 2007 was not necessarily glamorous, but it was very tactile. So we’re using school book paper to layer and build the central set piece, to bring that handmade and non-digital feeling, and a big and bold false proscenium to frame the story. 

Building set to tell an era that was so recent is a tricky thing, but the lucky part is the script carries a lot of that weight, and the set can focus on bringing you in to this recognisable, vibrant, theatrical yet gritty world that the characters live in. Even luckier than that is working in a team with the amazing Katya Alisia, who is building this world.” - Bud Potter

How do the technical elements change when the setting shifts from the safety of the friend group to the high-stakes environment of the party?
Atlanta Sonson-Chapman: I can't answer that question as that's not really the basis of the story, this is more about racial identity with two clashing languages co-existing, shakespearian and modern times and i have a really fun job of riding the waves between honouring a dramatic Shakespeare moment while pulling back the rians to reality and as much as im not a Shakespeare fan one thing I do like about his work is, it's literally slang they're speaking exactly how we used to speak when we were in school.

Atlanta Sonson-Chapman

Given the era, what role did the sound design play in building the world? Are we hearing the tinny buzz of a Sony Ericsson or the heavy bass of 2000s UK Garage and Grime?
Atlanta Sonson-Chapman: Music was such a big thing in the early 2000's, I still listening to my favourite grime and garage/house music that I grew up with since primary school! I strictly want to keep all the music in that era and yes you will hear a BBM notification WE'RE GETTING NOSTALGIC!! Sound design has that power to bring you backwards in time where freddo was 10p, chicken and chips were borderline £1.50 and a fiver could stretch. So I'm definitely coming in strong with the 2000's biggest bangers I want the audience to feel immersive to those times.

Parties in 2007 weren't Instagrammable. They were sweaty, crowded, and often dimly lit. How did you recreate that visceral, claustrophobic energy on stage?
Atlanta Sonson-Chapman: I'm going to recreate that sweaty, claustrophobic house party vibe based on using tight lighting, the movement and blocking supports this, currently theres a lot to explore in the process.

How does the technical design bridge the gap between young love (softness) and racial politics (harshness)?
Atlanta Sonson-Chapman: Softness and Harshness can be protrayed in many ways through lighting and sound even by themselves. My approach on Romeo Must Die is to honour the poetic structure and play with the 2 languages by keeping the lighting soft and smooth while letting sound control the Harshness through the bass and taking advantage of the subs. Yes im getting technical these are the things no one really thinks about, theres one thing to listen to music but to feel the music that gives me a lot to play with.

How did you get into the technical world of theatre?
Atlanta Sonson-Chapman: I trained as an actor but also loved creating things, i studied a BA in Theatre Design and Production for 3 years and i fell in love the lighting and sound design and constantly learning new tricks and effects. My first paid job was at the Arcola theatre before i graduated thanks to Waltham Forest Future Forms who opened the door for me since then I've been working on various projects with a multidisciplinary approach in lighting and sound.

How do Rose and Romeo's backgrounds reflect the allegiances mentioned in the synopsis? Are they truly from different worlds, or are they caught in a conflict they didn't create?

Christie Fewry: It’s definitely both, Rose and Romeo have been caught in this conflict while they’re trying to navigate their relationship, at the same time they are experiencing it from different worlds. Specifically for Rose you can see her and her friends are in a school where they are the minority, so school is very different for her than what Romeo is experiencing in Kane Park High. Rose and all the black kids are heavily scrutinise at St Shepards, therefore the alliances she has with her friends are absolute necessary to her surviving year 11.

George Wood: Romeo certainly is from a different world to Rose in the sense that he has an ignorance to certain aspects of her world; the things she experiences and the life she lives compared to his. He lacks some understanding of what she goes through, and he has a big love for his family who don’t seem so perceive rose and her world in the same way he does. 

George Wood.

How did you both tap into that specific 2007 year 11 mindset: where everything feels like the end of the world, even before the real stakes are introduced?

Christie: I think so far the most effective thing has been journaling about memories from 2007 being so young but looking up to the older’s on the bus home from primary school and in my area. And the play gives some nice little reference points for this. For example, there’s a JLS moment in the script, and that made me go back and try to consume as much early 2000s media as possible. It was a very distinct time especially in UK culture and that’s the time people use to actually sit in front of their TVs to catch the Saturday night shows like X-Factor, and having a brick phone or a flip phone was a thing.

But adopting the year 11 mindset has been easy to access, especially when I remember that being a child back in those days was so brutal. One of the reasons being, young people just didn’t have the language that we do now. So a lot of the things that we were experiencing would just be internalised. When I think back to when I was actually in year 11, things did feel life or death, and recalling that just creates the urgency and the ‘this is all there is’ stakes for my character.

George: I think it was thinking back to school, trying to remember how mature I felt when really I was only a kid. Thinking back to how important everything felt, especially the things which seem ridiculous to worry about, now that I’m older but at the time they really were everything. Being in school uniform again definitely helped as well! 

Does Romeo feel more loyalty to his sons or to Rose?

George: I think Romeo is very split. At an age when he has a lot going on anyway, the added pressure and confusion from his situation I think makes him question himself and his decisions and he wishes he wasn’t stuck in the middle and almost having to choose sides.

How does Rose navigate being a girl in the middle of these convoluted dynamics?

Christie: There is a real joy to Rose, with her friends and the deep love she has for all of them, but you can also see the anxiety that rises in her throughout the play. She does battle with the challenge of wanting to be a teenager and have fun and being in love but the reality is life can rip you out of the fantasy we want to live in. Which is what she often finds with her time with Romeo. She really does struggle hence why she continually goes to Mr Divine for support, as he is the only one who may understand what she’s going through. But I think her experience is so unique being a young dark skin black girl growing up in the UK, and she’s forced to grow up a lot faster than she wants to. 

Without spoilers, how did the knowledge that Romeo Must Die affect how you played your lighter, more romantic scenes together?

Christie: The most important thing is the characters being present, and those lighter, more romantic scenes are being played from a lens that they have all of eternity together. Rose absolutely does not know that Romeo Must Die. She wouldn’t be able to handle that level of loss. 

George: To me, it made the scenes feel quite fragile, the idea that there’s so much going on, they don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow and I really wanted to lean into Romeo believing he’s found his soulmate and he really doesn’t want to lose her and wants to protect her however he can.

What was the most "2007" thing you do to get into the characters headspace?

Christie: I already mentioned it, but for me it was definitely re-watching the first episode of Britain’s Got Talent.

George: I didn’t realise how many 2007 songs I actually have on my playlist, so getting them together and listening to them a lot helped me get into Romeo’s headspace and world, especially thinking back to listening to them on an iPod or watching the music videos on YouTube.

What is the one song that defines this story’s version of 2007?

Altanta: Oooff I'm stuck between Babycakes by 3 of a kind or Things we do for love by Sticky and Kelen Le Roc

Christie: Blue Lights by Jorja Smith

George: No One - Alicia Keys. The idea ‘that everything’s gonna be alright’ - it may not be perfect now and there’s things wrong, but there’s a sense of hope that they all have and the idea of them all sticking together, but also maybe naivety thinking that everything will just work out in the future, even if that’s not the case.

Is the "villain" of this story a person, or is it the environment itself?

Altanta: Definitely the environment.

Christie: Definitely the environment itself, without giving away any spoilers, you see how each character tries to survive in the difficult circumstances they all I living in.

Christie Fewry.

George: I would say it’s the environment, I think it’s about pressures these kids are under and the relations they have - whether it be family, friends, teachers - and about them being pushed to choose a path and forced to make decisions perhaps before they are ready to. They are forced to choose and decide who they want to be at a young age, choosing to give in to the pressures around them or staying strong and sticking to what they believe in.

If these characters survived to 2026, what do you think they would say to their 2007 selves?

Altanta: I know Peter would be rocking back and forth traumatised!  Tyrone and the boys will be those yardy men you see liming in their corner reminiscing. Tia and Chioma would probably still be sour about like those judgemental aunties.

Christie: Probably find a way to expose yourself to the rest of the world. Even in little ways there are new worlds you can put yourself in to expose you to a more inspirational reality.

George: Be smart, be strong in yourself and what you believe, just because someone says something, doesn’t mean they’re right so hold onto the things you value. But at the same time don’t rush into things, hear people out and listen. And also don’t grow up so fast, appreciate being a kid before you have to be an adult, don’t rush into that.

What do you hope a 2026 audience takes away from a story about Black youth in 2007 Manchester?

Christie: I hope audiences notice the insane parallels between Shakespeare’s writing and the experiences of these young Mancunian’s lives that Gloria Akpoke was able write so beautifully.

George: I hope audiences notice the similarities in what’s happening within the play and in current times, that there is still that racial tension with certain people and areas and certain pressures, as well as ongoing knife crime and realise that there is more that can be done on a wider scale but also on a more personal level. 

Romeo Must Die runs at Theatre Peckham on Monday 1st and Tuesday 2nd June 2026. For tickets and more information visit https://www.theatrepeckham.co.uk/show/romeo-must-die/