BBC documentary Redefining Juliet to give Shakespeare role to disabled actors

A documentary going behind the scenes of a Romeo and Juliet production featuring six Juliets with disabilities or differences will be broadcast on BBC4.

Redefining Juliet follows performer Storme Toolis and her company as they produce Romeo and Juliet using a diverse group of performers in the lead female role.

It uses a combination of the original text and verbatim theatre, in which the actors discuss their own experiences.

Toolis, a wheelchair user, said: "It originally came from my own experience - I always wanted to play Juliet and I realised i would never have the opportunity to do it, unless I create the work for myself, which is how the idea started and it evolved from there."

She said the BBC documentary would explore the different girls playing Juliet, and the resulting production at the Barbican in London earlier this year.

"It's the journey from rehearsals to production and it's intercut with bits of our own lives, as the show is a mixture of Shakespeare's text and verbatim theatre. The verbatim aspects are things that have happened to us in the industry, or within our lives, that have highlighted our differences to the world. It could be things we have been told at a casting, for example, and we have used Juliet as a starting point for that," she explained.

Toolis emphasised it was not a "disability led" project but rather about "difference and diversity and what that means".

"I am in a wheelchair, one of our cast members is deaf and another is reduced height, but we are not trying to make a disability-focused thing. We are trying to make a larger point about femininity and what is beautiful," she said.

She added that there had been "a small amount of progress" in terms of reflecting disability on stage, but said: "Now is the time to be doing these things and having these kinds of conversations. I don't think it's perfect, but I don't think it's awful. There are a lot of issues around non-disabled actors playing disabled roles, and that comes up again and again. At the end of the day, theatre is about making money and that will happen to a certain extent for the rest of time."

She said she wanted to be able to go to the Royal Shakespeare Company and audition for Juliet.

"That is an level playing field. If non-disabled people can play my roles, I can play theirs as well," she said.

The documentary will be shown on BBC on May 1 at 10pm. Toolis is also planning to tour the show.