About Lady Montague

In Romeo & Juliet, the character of Lady Montague is shrouded in mystery. She is concerned by her son’s withdrawn behaviour and news of  his banishment breaks her heart, and she dies of grief.

In Violent Delights, we reimagine her, today, as a single mother to Romeo. She decides it’s time to tell her son the truth about his absent father: a dark secret from her past that reveals the foundations of lifelong hostility between the Montagues and Capulets. 

About the writer

Laura is a playwright and screenwriter from the East Midlands who has written more than 40 original plays and adaptations of classic novels, commissioned by theatres including the Almeida, the Customs House South Shields and Hull Truck. Her plays have been performed across China, the UK and Europe. She is currently developing two new musicals, an opera and several theatre, film and television projects.

Laura’s first feature Lapwing has recently been taken on by sales agent Paradox House,  and her short film The Empty Throne won a BUFVC Learning on Screen Award at BFI. Previously, Laura wrote for BBC EastEnders:E20 and the Holby City and Casualty shadow schemes. Her BBC New Creatives short film Inside premiered on BBC4 in May 2020. Her BFI Network-funded short films Going Country and Pennywort recently began their festival runs; Going Country won a Best Picture award at the LA Film Awards, and three Outstanding Achievement Awards at the LA International Film Awards, including Best Original Screenplay.

Laura is a member of BAFTA Crew and the European Cultural Parliament’s Future Generations initiative, and lectures in Writing for Theatre and Screenwriting at the University of Lincoln. In her writing, Laura is passionate about exploring female-driven narratives that ask questions about who we are today, often through the lens of the past. 

Company

Biographies

Becky Hope-Palmer

Becky directed PSF’s summer production of The Comedy of Errors last year. She is based in Scotland and has worked with the Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the Traverse Theatre as a workshop leader and director.

She previously spent two years on attachment with the Royal Shakespeare Company, working on the 2018/19 production of Romeo & Juliet and previously on Richard Bean’s The Hypocrite for Hull City of Culture 2017.

In Yorkshire, Becky is an Associate Artist of East Riding Theatre’s resident company, She Productions, having made the new musical, It’s Different For Girls, which played to great acclaim in 2017/18 and Bombshells in January this year.
Becky was a finalist for the prestigious JMK Directing Award in 2019.  

Laura Turner

Laura is a playwright, screenwriter and actress. As a writer, Laura’s work has been produced nationally and internationally, including at Hull Truck Theatre, the Almeida Theatre, the BBC, Chapterhouse Theatre Company, East Riding Theatre and the Petersfield Shakespeare Festival. Laura has recently returned to acting for the stage and screen and is passionate about bringing to life urgent, impactful and emotional female stories that encourage us to think differently about our world.

Laura’s recent credits include Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible, Lauren in Facing Time with Intestinal Fortitude Theatre, Hero in Much Ado About Nothing and Elizabeth in the short film Rich. Laura is delighted to be working with PSF this year as both a writer and a performer – it’s been an absolute dream!