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Actors Perform Shakespeare From Their Windows To Entertain Their Self-Isolation Neighbors
Quarantined actors performed Romeo and Juliet from their windows to cheer up their neighbors during lockdown.
Actors Che Walker and Ruth Gibson played the star-crossed lovers in the balcony scene to a socially-distanced crowd of their neighbors, including frontline workers, on their North London street.
Resident and NHS doctor Adolpho Bronstein even played an instrumental on his flute from a window opposite.
Actor and playwright Mr. Walker, 47, from Camden, has lived on the street for 22 years and said he often waves to theatre and television actor Ms. Gibson from his window.
Mr. Walker – who wrote the first contemporary play to be shown at The Globe, The Frontline, in 2008, and is the son of Eastenders actress Ann Mitchell – said he jokingly mentioned the idea to Ms. Gibson.
After spending a couple of weeks in quarantine, they had a few rehearsals over FaceTime before letting their neighbors know they were staging a performance on a sunny Saturday afternoon, via their WhatsApp group.
Mr. Walker, who has featured as a motivational speaker in The Office (UK), and in EastEnders, said:
"We told them all to come out but to observe social distancing, and there was a nice little crowd."
"Our street has a lot of NHS doctors and staff on it, because there's a hospital nearby."
"One neighbor, who is a doctor, worked 31 days in a row recently and I could just see her head sticking out, it was great."
"We had some lovely feedback on WhatsApp – people said they felt cheered up and that's all you can do really, it's not much but it's nice to put a smile on people's faces for 10 minutes at a time like this."
Ms. Gibson, from London, added:
"It was just lovely. One doctor who lives opposite me said it was so wonderful just to think about something else for 10 minutes."
"The whole street are up for doing it every Saturday now."