The Royal Shakespeare Company returns to the Barbican this autumn with a contemporary London Season comprising three of the playwright’s most loved titles: Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet and The Merry Wives of Windsor.

RSC Deputy Artistic Director Erica Whyman follows her incredible 2016 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Play for the Nation with the violent and devastating tragedy Romeo and Juliet. As in 2016, this production will see young people from RSC Associate Schools perform alongside the professional actors in the cast.

What if your first true love was someone you’d been told to hate?

Set in a world very like our own, this Romeo and Juliet is about a generation of young people born into violence and ripped apart by the bitter divisions of their parents. The most famous story of love at first sight explodes with intense passion and an irresistible desire for change, but leads all too quickly to heart-breaking consequences.