What would have happened in Romeo and Juliet if Romeo had learnt from Friar Laurence that Juliet wasn't dead and there was no reason for either of them to kill themselves? A great tragedy would have become a riotous comedy, which is just what happens in Perry Pontac's irreverent blank verse reworking of one of Shakespeare's greatest plays.
Director David Hunter

What if Romeo and Juliet had not died? Perry Pontac's comedy provides an answer- in iambic pentameters
Afternoon Play: Fatal Loins
2.15pm R4 Early in this play a disguised Friar Laurence finds Romeo and tells him it has been decided that Juliet must marry the County Paris. "What?" replies Romeo, "the whole county?" You will have guessed that this is a comic reworking of the Bard's great love story, and writer Perry Pontac, who is something of a Shakespeare specialist in one way or another, has produced a typically exuberant and often hilarious play. Pontac was inspired to write the play by wondering what would have happened if there had been no reason for either Romeo or Juliet to kill themselves. The result, surely, would have been a comedy. And so Pontac has written it. Sam West is Romeo, John Moffatt is Friar Laurence, Pam Ferris is the Nurse and the cast also includes Nancy Carroll, and Rachel Atkins as Juliet.