What if Romeo and Juliet actually survived?

Well, here’s a surprise. Romeo and Juliet didn’t actually die, as Shakespeare had us believe.

They survived. And in fact, they have now reached middle age, they've got a child and they are struggling with their marriage.

You can find out precisely where they are with their lives by watching Juliet & Romeo – as opposed to Romeo & Juliet – in Chichester's Minerva Theatre from Thursday to Saturday, November 5-7 and at Brighton Dome Corn Exchange from November 12-14.

It turns out they didn't die in a tragic misunderstanding, but living hasn’t exactly been straightforward either. They feel constantly mocked by their teenage selves and haunted by the pressures of being the poster couple for romantic love. They have decided to confront their current struggles by putting on a performance – about themselves. Their therapist told them it was a terrible idea…

John Kendall, who plays Romeo, explains: “The idea is that we are now middle-aged. I'm 38 so I am middle-aged or approaching middle age and we both didn't die. We have a child called Sophie and we are going through problems with our marriage. We talk at the beginning about trying several things to help us with our struggling marriage, things like couples massage. And in a sense we want to use the audience as a marriage counsellor, as a mediator. “At the beginning we describe how we both met or at least our versions of how we met because they are different. I say that we met at a party and I remember in that moment of meeting her there was real clarity. Juliet has got a different take on what happened. And that's really the show. That sets it up.”

As for their survival: “There is a sort of moment. I have a confession. I get to the moment where I'm talking about the moment of taking the poison with Juliet dead in front of me but then I say how I had this thought that I could actually live without Juliet. I found myself starting to imagine a life with other people. And in that sense our whole relationship is built on a lie.

“The show is a mix of things. We're both 38 in the show and we're both reflecting back on what happened. It dips between now and into the actual Romeo & Juliet story. It's quite challenging. We go between the times. I am there as a performer and I'm there as myself and I'm there as Romeo and we jump between those ages and times but it's so helpful that Emily who is playing Juliet is such an amazing performer. We just ride together this rollercoaster of breaking up and of falling in and out of love.”