Julia's father is everything else than a rigid patriarch: he would give his daughter in marriage with her consent only - luckily she's far too young for getting married yet. But things change faster than he might have suspected: On a party given by the Capulet family, Julia gets to know Romeo, they fall in love, conflicts arise, there are dead persons, there are misunderstandings and help, which does not actually contribute towards clarifying the situation.
Shakespeare’s famous love story is adapted by a company of actors, musicians and young people whose diversity of biographies and lifestyles leaves its mark on the production.
Employing Shakespeare’s sense of wit and humour, scenes from daily life, with disputatious playfulness and Shakespeare’s language, the company seeks to explore the conflicts, richness, and fragilities that can occur when people, in all their variety and different living conditions, meet.
SELAM HABIBI is a passionate play creating our intercultural society onstage: The early acts are set in an oriental-occidental festivity with music, song and dance. A festivity where there is dancing, talking, flirting and quarrelling. Suddenly the festivity is over. Mercutio and Tybalt are dead; Romeo has been banished, marriage to another man is a settled matter - and Julia ... how does she decide?
'The performance goes without any formal artistry and ironical detachment. The theatre ensemble successfully manages to transport a lot of real life on stage. The performance of the characters seems so authentic as if they had just dropped in from the street. The large and extra-regional numbers of people coming to see the show highlights the way in which the heterogeneous ensemble presents itself to the audience in all its diversity as a high-power and involving troupe of players, and how it managed to stage the latest and very topical issues of modern day urban society through the use of Romeo and Juliet.’
Tageswoche (translation)
‘It became apparent through the reactions and feedback from audience members that the action onstage touched them in a particular way, that they were captured by the authenticity of the performers and that they
were able to retrace their own stories. The assembly of characters with different cultural backgrounds created a cosmos of stories, which shone a new light on the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet: The conflicts onstage are
developed from the personalities of the actors themselves, close to the experiences of the various audience members who have for a long time now been confronted with cultural diversity on a daily basis. In an exemplary
way, Volksbühne Basel has been able to reach its goal: To tell stories of people from different cultural backgrounds to an audience that reflects an emigrational society. The fact that the well-established venue in
Berlin, Heimathafen Neukölln, has been won as a co-producer proofs the charisma and recognition of this production, across regional boundaries.’
Ingo Starz Journalist - Programmzeitung (translation)