Romeu, Romeu, ondé está

Inevitably, something will be lost on members of the British audience when Romeo and Juliet opens at Shakespeare's Globe in Portuguese.

"Se outro nome tivesse a rosa, em vez de rosa, deixaria de ser por isso perfumosa" does not quite have the ring to English ears of "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet".

Nor is "malditas sejam vossas fam'lias" immediately recognisable as "a plague on both your houses".

On the other hand, there are no prizes for guessing that "Romeu, Romeu, ondé está meu Romeu?" translates as "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?"

However, even without such obvious verbal clues, it will not be difficult to follow the version as staged by the Brazilian street theatre troupe, Grupo Galpao.

The story is not new and their vibrant reinterpretation, which has won acclaim around the world, is spiced with traditional Brazilian song, masks, mime, stilt-walkers and all the brash appeal of the circus.

Romeo and Juliet in virgin white stand out from the vivid costumes of the rest of the cast - although they, like their colleagues, wear the make-up of clowns. The show is steeped in the popular culture of the mining state of Minas Gerais, north-west of Rio di Janeiro, and the stage is decked with the flowers and crosses to be found there in any village.

"It is not a play in which suspense is in any way important," says executive producer Paul Heritage. "The songs carry it on and it is a very physical, action-based piece of theatre.

"We do not get everything from language but from a whole range of different things and Grupo Galpao use as many different ways as possible."

For the text, the company has reverted purposely to a lyrical 1930s translation which, according to Heritage, would have "a slightly old-fashioned sound" to a contemporary Brazilian audience.

As executive producer, he has not been without his own problems in fitting Romeu and Julieta into the Globe on Bankside in time for tonight's opening.

His biggest problem was the symbolic hearse, a silver Volvo decorated with flowers according to local custom, that occupies centre stage throughout the action and serves as platform for the fight scene, balcony, tomb and even Juliet's bedroom.