When Romeo Met Juliet

One city, eight weeks and two contrasting schools come together to put on a professional production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. In a unique experiment, each school is cast as one of the two feuding families at the heart of the world's favourite love story. Romeo and his Montague clan come from a Coventry city centre comprehensive while Juliet and the Capulets are from a Catholic school in the city's northern suburbs. Trying to get the show on the road is artistic director of the National Youth Theatre, Paul Roseby. Also on hand as mentors - one for each school - are Hustle actor and RADA-trained Shakespeare fan Adrian Lester and his wife, actress Lolita Chakrabarti. Can they help the teenage cast overcome their preconceptions about Shakespeare, and work with each other, to create a Romeo and Juliet for a new generation, iambic pentameter and all?

After rehearsing Romeo and Juliet separately, the two schools are now ready to work together. It will be the first time Romeo gets to meet Juliet, and 17-year-old Glody - who has never acted before - and 15-year-old Beth begin to feel the pressure of the leading roles as the young cast move into full production on neutral ground - Coventry University's media and arts centre. Their mentors - Hustle star and RADA-trained Adrian Lester and his actress wife Lolita Chakrabarti - help the teenage actors to unlock the complexities of Shakespeare's language, while director Paul Roseby takes them through some of the bawdiest bits of the play. He's set it in Coventry in 1981 - with the Montagues as rude boys and the Capulets skinheads - so the cast are also being taught how to stage fight. But will they ever be ready to go on stage?

After eight weeks' hard work, the cast of Coventry teenagers from two schools are now just three days away from putting on a professional production of Romeo and Juliet. They have moved into a modern space in the city's Belgrade Theatre for a weekend of final rehearsals. There are costumes to try on, and make-up, lights and a 1980s set to get used to, but can they remember their lines?