THEATRE, it is said, has the power to transport the viewer into another world, but even The Bard faced a hard time on Saturday, as players from the Courtyard Youth Theatre staged scenes from Romeo and Juliet, in a busy shopping street, in freezing rain.

But the players made the event a success and the performance, brought to the streets of Ross-on-Wye by the Made in Ross craftworkers consortium, which has an exhibition and shop in the Old Market Hall, utilised the balcony of the building to recreate the most famous love scene in Shakespeare’s canon – when Juliet calls out for her lover: “Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?”

Four young players from the Hereford-based theatre group made the steps of the ancient building their stage, and played out short extracts from the romantic play, as a precursor to St Valentine’s Day on Sunday.

Fletcher Garrard, aged 14, played an accomplished role as Romeo, while 17-year-old Danii Tanner took to the balcony for a heartfelt performance as Juliet.

Supporting cast members were 17-year-old Vicky Guilding who played Friar Laurence, while Amber Evans, who is 14, played the nurse.

Despite the very cold wind and driving rain, the performers managed to deliver their scenes, to the delight of a crowd of theatre lovers who had gathered to share the romance of the play, and stray shoppers, bemused at the spectacle of live Shakespeare on their town street.