Cheese and Guava or Romeo and Juliet @ Summerhall

In a bittersweet blend of contrasting flavours, Brazilian theatre collective Cênica’s Cheese and Guava or Romeo and Juliet is a deliriously irreverent spin on Shakespeare’s rom-trag.

The audience is welcomed into a raucous party, where Romeo (Fabiano Amigucci) appears onstage wearing a vintage skirt as a cape, buttoned only at the neck and paired with a Venetian mask. Juliet (Vanessa Palmieri), also masked, joins him – and almost instantly, they’re kissing. The action is deliberately fast-paced, exaggerated, and chaotic, echoing the impulsive romance at the play’s core.

Songs by Roberto Carlos – the Brazilian king of romantic pop – saturate the production, offering a nostalgic charm and ironic counterpoint. As the ensemble reminds us, Carlos’s sweet ballads were ever-present on the radio during Operation Condor, the brutal campaign of repression by right-wing regimes – with covert US support – across Brazil, Argentina, and Chile in the 1970s and ’80s.

This tension – between the comforting music and violent backdrop – is echoed throughout Cênica’s staging. Grotesque joy, chaotic timing and sardonic, direct-address pop dances around Juliet’s suicide form a Bouffon-style critique that laughs through horror. According to Philippe Gaulier, Bouffon is the 'king of mockery', who uses laughter as both weapon and mirror.

Phones and selfies punctuate the play: Romeo and Juliet take a selfie after their night together, Juliet kills herself using a phone extension, and the nurse (Beta Cunha) constantly records tragic moments – adding another modern, buffoonish layer.

Cunha nearly steals the show with over-the-top reactions to trivialities and surreal lightness in the face of death. At one point, she reflects on her identity as a Black woman, acknowledging Brazil’s ongoing struggles with racism and transphobia, grounding the play’s chaos in real, lived realities. She also offers the audience Romeu e Julieta, the Brazilian guava and cheese dessert. We grab it, some going back for seconds – it was that good.

The actors take turns playing live instruments – drums, electric guitars and bass – revealing their accomplished musical talents and charging the performance with rock electricity.

Cheese and Guava delivers its chaos with freshness and panache; it is a reminder of theatre’s vitality when it sheds self-importance – a sharp contrast to what Peter Brook famously called 'dead' theatre. In a UK scene where actors often feel pressured to adopt 'Shakespearean' accents, this production’s refusal to conform is a refreshing, much-needed injection of diversity and aliveness. Captions ensure no one misses a beat.

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Cheese and Guava or Romeo and Juliet, Summerhall (Main Hall), until 25 Aug, 10.35am, £10-17