GUISELEY actress Natalie Anderson is starring as Lady Capulet in a striking new production of Romeo and Juliet, set against a contemporary northern landscape.

The West Yorkshire Playhouse production transports Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy to a modern-day city for its first major production of 2017, at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

Directed by Amy Leach, the theatre’s new associate director, this fresh new staging captures the impact of raging intergenerational conflict and social unrest in a present-day setting.

Natalie is best known for her role as Alicia in Emmerdale, and has also starred in Wicked on the West End.

She played Nurse Stella Davenport in ITV’s popular hospital drama The Royal and she found herself filming in the ward where she was born!

“I told my mum I was doing some scenes in the maternity wing at the St Luke’s Hospital in Bradford and she said, ‘Do you realise you were born there?’ Natalie, of Guiseley, said at the time.

“I’m very much a Yorkshire girl, I wouldn’t want to live in London and thankfully most of my work has been up north so far.”

Natalie attended Intake theatre school in Leeds before studying at Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, set up by Sir Paul McCartney. Aged 19 she was a finalist in the first series of Pop Idol, competing with Gareth Gates and Will Young.

Natalie had only been out of drama school nine months when she landed her role in The Royal. She has also been in Holby City, Dalziel and Pascoe and Wire in the Blood.

Lady Capulet is the mother of Juliet in the play, which, says West Yorkshire Playhouse’s artistic director James Brining, is “a love story for 2017 - set in a pulsating, contemporary city where two communities live side-by-side, divided by hatred.”

The staging of the 400-year old play asks the audience to reflect on how we live together in the present moment; particularly as the UK goes about exiting the European Union.

The production has been created in close partnership with the playhouse’s community work. Alongside the professional cast of the show, a large community chorus has been recruited from the theatre’s programme of activities for young people, including First Floor and Youth Theatre. This young company is integral to the production. There will also be a programme of school workshops around West Yorkshire run by the venue’s creative engagement team.

“We want to inspire the next generation to fall in love with Shakespeare and to create a resonant and arresting re-telling for those already familiar with this classic work,” says James.

Amy Leach said: “My first visit to the West Yorkshire Playhouse was more than 20 years ago to see Romeo and Juliet as a young teenager, and it’s a story I’ve loved ever since. No play captures the headiness of young love, passion and fury better than this, and I want to create a production that’s rooted in Leeds, inspired by the people and places I’ve known.”

Romeo is played by Dan Parr whose theatre credits include The Kitchen Sink at the New Vic Theatre, and Hamlet at the Barbican. Tessa Parr stars as Juliet. Her most recent theatre credits include Unlimited Theatre’s Playdough and Live Theatre’s The Soaking of Vera Shrimp.

l Runs until Saturday March 25.