Riverside Studios – Review 5th September 2026

Romeo and Hamed swaps Verona for Croydon, bringing Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers into the modern day. This is a queer love story between a Muslim and a non-Muslim, set amid the concrete tower blocks and streets of South London. Quite a switch-up, and one I’m very glad to see.

Anyone who knows the classic will know that this love story is not all hearts and flowers. Here, it’s raves, guns and religion. The balconies of Italy become the rooftops of apartment blocks, while the lovers must navigate religious divides as well as a family feud that is now gun-loaded and largely played out offstage.

Anyone wary of old-fashioned prose will be pleasantly surprised by the sparkling, witty modern poetic repartee, which draws plenty of well-deserved laughs from the audience. It is inventive and clever, keeping the fast-paced story motoring along without sacrificing the characters, who feel very real amid the rapid dialogue.

Credit, too, to the writer for weaving queerness and religion into the proceedings. We need more stories with this edge, giving space to communities whose voices have too often been left out.

The second act is where the blood and guts quite literally come into play, bringing even more energy and pathos. A pulsing musical soundscape dials up the intensity when needed. The lighting looks deceptively simple, but its pools of light, shadows and bursts of rave energy reveal the care behind it. It enhances the action without overpowering it.

I hope audiences see this as a story of love reaching beyond the boundaries imposed by family, religion and power, even as those forces threaten to tear it apart. This isn’t Disney; it’s closer to Tarantino, and that street-rhyming grittiness is what I’d go for every time.

Sometimes we need to look beyond boundaries and traditions to make connections. This is a thrilling new play that thoroughly deserves its standing ovation and an audience ready to embrace everything it has to say.

Show	Romeo and Hamed
Dates & Times	2 to 6 September 2026
Venue	Riverside Studios, London
Production Company	Sinew Productions x Slime and Pies co-production
Tickets	Riverside Studios