Zapětdvanáct: Romeo, Julie and Parents

The creators of the successful production First Blow of the Captain return with a new original project exploring parenthood, adolescence, and family communication. What can families actually say to each other - and what remains unspoken? Where does care end and pressure begin? Does such a thing as an ideal parent even exist?

The production draws freely from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, but it is not a retelling of the familiar story. The classical text serves as a starting point for examining relationships between parents and adolescents - their expectations, misunderstandings, grievances, and recurring family patterns. The hatred between the Capulets and Montagues is, after all, one of the play's greatest taboos - Shakespeare never explains its causes. What happened to make everything the way it is?

Romeo, Julie a rodiče emerges in dialogue with young people and brings their perspective on the adult world. Parents also enter the creative process, with their perspective represented on stage by actors from the Zapětdvanáct ensemble.

I was born into a family where no one says anything out loud.
I keep secrets about money.
I keep secrets about infidelities.
I keep secrets about death.
I hold within me emotions that are not mine.
In my family, love is silence.
I love my family, but I will not save it or stay silent.
If this is betrayal, freedom is always a little bit of betrayal.

Julie, 14 years old.